Each year we take a trip for Thanksgiving.  We’ve visited:

• Ireland
• Mexico City
• Burgundy / Switzerland
• Colorado

This year we want to head back to France.  During our last trip to France, we started the trip off in Paris, this time we want to close out our adventure in the City of Lights.  We want to go someplace with good food, good wine,  something to do and still have the ability to relax.  Our initial thought was to bum around in the Loire Valley, but I read an article in Wine Spectator that got me excited about Bordeaux.  Our plan now is to land in Paris, hop on the train and head down to Bordeaux.

A picture taken on March 14, 2016 in Bordeaux, southwestern France, shows a general view of the Wine Civilisations Museum (Cite des civilisations du vin). The official opening of the 14,000 m2 building, designed by the architects Nicolas Desmazieres and Anouk Legendre from X-TU agency, is scheduled for June 2016. / AFP / NICOLAS TUCAT (Photo credit should read NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP/Getty Images)

We want to spend a few days in Bordeaux, then spend a day or two working our way back to Paris. I want to be in Paris for Thanksgiving and we return home the Saturday following the holiday.  I’ve got Thanksgiving dinner all planned:  Tour d’Argent and their world famous Caneton à la presse.

I need your help with Bordeaux. Where should we stay? There aren’t any Starwood Luxury Collection properties in Bordeaux, so our preference is to go local, but we don’t want a hostel or a cramped little room in a far off corner of the city. We’d like something central, walkable and if possible historically significant.

Where should we eat? Not all of our meals need to be Tour D’Argent quality, but we want good French food. It doesn’t even have to be consistently Bordelais, just good food, traditional or modern – we want to experience both old world Bordeaux and the newly invigorated City.

Where should we tour/taste wine? What tour company should we use to schlep us between vineyards?  We don’t need a master sommelier to drive us from place to place, but someone with knowledge of the history of the area, the wines/grapes of the region and the wine making process.

My favorite question too: what should we NOT do whilst in Bordeaux? Is there something you did that you wished you hadn’t?  Was it a waste of time and/or money?

What am I forgetting?