Last Night

Our hosts, the owners of this quaint French apartment where we are living, treated us to a very special evening.  Their invitation Maryse sent via WhatsApp said they wanted to take us to a typical guinguette to dine and listen to music or dance; it’s one of their favorite things to do.

We had no idea what or where a guinguette might be but we thought, why not?

They picked us up in their car and drove across the Gironde to an area not far from places we’d walked around a few days ago.

As we approached the area we could hear music and see lights.  Stan and I could tell we were about to experience something very cool.  We walked into Darwin, former military barracks on the river now made into a place for dining, coffee, bookstores, boutiques, art, and an indoor skateboard park.  What a nice use of land that otherwise might sit idle. The old barracks look all dressed up in their twinkling lights,

Just a short walk away we entered the guinguette.  Ah ha!   Now we understand the term – it’s an outdoor venue with food,  drinks, and music.  A guinguette can be anywhere but only in France.  This one, called La Guinguette Chez Alriq, is a dynamic outdoor picnic area with live music and tapas, beer, cocktails, and wine sold in tiny walk-up bars.  Already people were dancing to lively swing music played by the band on the stage.

It was packed with people on this Thursday evening.  It was hard to find a table – there are no reservations here.  We finally found three unoccupied long picnic tables overlooking the river.  We sat at one end.  The sun was setting.  How gorgeous and exciting it was!  Stan and Dennis took off to get snacks and wine.  Maryse left me at the table while she walked around making sure a better table was not out there for us somewhere.  As I sat taking it all in, a group of twenty-five or so 18-year-olds swarmed in on me like bees taking over the table.  Boy, did I feel small!  I tried to tell them they could have the tables but we needed space for four people.  No deal.  They took up the entire space.  It was not that they did not understand English.  They spoke English very well.  They just laughed and said they were touring from Germany and had a reservation – they’d lodged a balloon with “Anna – 25 P” written with Sharpie on it and lodged it in a crack between the tables—as if that confirmed their reservation.  We had some friendly discussion but I soon figured out I was far outnumbered.  We introduced ourselves and wished each other a good time.

Maryse did find a better table. The evening was oh so pleasant.  We chatted — their English is far better than our French. but we managed to understand each other very well. The charcuterie and patê was tasty and the live music was great. Everyone danced, at least all the girls and women danced.

Thank you Maryse and Dennis for giving us this peek into a part of Bordeaux that we might never have otherwise found.