How to have a great visit in Bordeaux? First stay at Nicole & Jean-Etienne's lovely apartment! Centrally located on the main pedestrian shopping street, with busy shops and restaurants just outside the door, yet inside the apartment it is quiet and calm. Their apartment is spacious, clean and comfortable and locates you in the heart of magnificent Bordeaux. We stayed there for a month and felt quite at home. Your hosts are charming and very helpful and will take the time to make sure your stay is enjoyable. They speak English very well, but are also very tolerant and patient when you attempt to speak French, so go ahead and practice! The apartment is on the top floor but there is a small lift, so going up and down is not difficult. Nicole met us at the apartment the day we arrived, to give us the keys and to demonstrate how things worked, and she was very distressed because on that morning the lift had stopped working, so she gallantly helped carry our bags up to the apartment. They contacted the building manager immediately and the lift was soon repaired. We had no problems with it throughout the rest of our stay. The day before our departure, Nicole came to the apartment and arranged for a taxi to come to the door to take us to the airport. Everything went smoothly, but she also made sure that we had the telephone number of the taxi company, just in case. The apartment is spacious and is furnished in both antique and modern styles and is very comfortable and pleasant, even for a long vacation. There is a big updated kitchen that is very well equipped with a large refrigerator/freezer combination, microwave, convection oven, dishwasher, three burner glass cooktop with fan, electric toaster and electric kettle, as well as many dishes and pots, so preparing meals “at home” is easy. The living room has a TV and very comfortable chairs and sofa and is large enough for entertaining. Off the living room is another room that is used as an office with a large desk that easily accommodates two laptop computers. There are two desk chairs, so we were both able to work at the desk at the same time. The wifi is password protected so you can go online securely. The office includes a sofa bed and the room can be shut off from the living room, creating a second private bedroom. We used the sofa bed when friends stayed with us for a couple of days. The walk-in shower is great and even my 6’3” husband enjoyed using it. There is a second bathroom, with a large soaking tub and basin, off the bedroom. The separate toilet room shares space with the clothes washing machine. Staying at the apartment you are right in the center of Bordeaux and can walk to all of the important landmarks, including Place de la Bourse, Place de la Comedie, Monument aux Girondins, Cathedral Saint-André...