Waldorf & Stadler

I needn’t have bothered setting my alarm – I was awake with pains from 4.30am. I got myself ready, and Jacqui and Bob picked me up late morning. We drove to St Emilion where we met Trevor and Glynis for lunch. André directed us to a very pleasant little restaurant where we had a three course meal of pumpkin soup, steak and onions and orange flavoured rice pudding. It was bitingly cold outside, and we were glad to be back in the car and headed for Bordeaux.

We arrived in the centre of Bordeaux, and checked into the little hotel near the opera house. We then trooped off en masse to a ‘café brun’ where Trevor and I got stuck into pints (yes I know – pints!) of Guinness. How I have missed it. The others wanted to go shopping (at least Jacqui and Gynis did) so André and I trooped off to the Musée de Beaux Arts, which unfortunately was closed. It was too cold to hang around outside, so we went to the Maison de Thé for…yeap, tea and cakes. It was very ritzy. It was then time to grab a taxi (André’s bandaged finger is ideal for hailing cabs) to the hospital.

Michael was awake, and we spent nearly an hour talking to him. The nurse seemed satisfied with the way things are going.

We took a cab back to the hotel and got ready for the opera, meeting the others in a nearby bar, before taking our seats. We sat in a little box at the side of the stalls and I had a clear view of the stage. Tosca was tremendous, and although naturally we were preoccupied with other things, it was great to have seen the performance. The good thing about Tosca is you know when it’s going to end, because everybody is dead so there’s nobody left to sing. Afterwards we caught cabs to a jazz bar in the equivalent of the ‘red light district’ and had a great meal. Fresh oysters seemed to be the speciality, and I was fascinated to watch the guy opening up dozens of oysters at the bar as if it was the easiest thing in the world. The jazz bar was still in full flow when we left in the early hours.