Why yes, I would like to try your wine, thank you

Bordeaux. Grape vines as far as the eye can see. Bliss!

We made it to Bordeaux just after lunch yesterday, and found the campsite. It was about 33 degrees, so we had some pool time before heading into Bordeaux centre on our bikes to have a look around. We had read about Bordeaux's fantastic public transport infrastructure before we arrived, and were amazed at the bike paths into and around the city. You get your own turning lanes and traffic light signals – it was fantastic – Sydney could learn a lot!

Bordeaux itself was quite pretty, with botanic gardens in the middle of the city, beautiful buildings and a huge fountain. A pretty city, with good bike infrastructure and that close to one of the most famous wine regions in the world – I could live here!

We learnt pretty quickly that wine tasting here isn't like the rest of the world. The wineries are called 'chateau' and you need to call in advance to make a tasting appointment. I have to admit we found this a little offputting, and didn't go to anywhere near as many chateau as we probably would have if you could just drop in. We picked a couple from the book and made some appointments for the afternoon, then stopped for some lunch.

We had delicious lamb and roast vegetables, followed by apple slice and vanilla ice cream, washed down with some local red wines. What a nice start to the day!

While you have to make an appointment, the flip side of that is that when you get there there aren't 20 people just standing there trying the wine, and you get to talk to the people about how their wine is grown, and harvested. We learnt a lot about french wine – not just that it tastes good!