BORDEAUX Between heaven and earth

"There she is! Run, everyone! She's coming! She's coming! A great shudder of expectation was felt from all around and in a clamour of scattered stones and towers, the houses spill down to the river banks. Line up on the quays! She has to make a silky curve when she gets here. And the town presses forward, outskirts and all... the entire city is here, like an attentive soul". This is how the poet Louis Gendreau greeted "Queen Garonne" the river, entering her "bonny city of Bordeaux", as she flowed in carrying ships from far away lands with their goods for the markets, fairs and warehouses.