UK Factoid of the Day

In the UK, what we call a Tank-Top is called a Vest, and what we call a Vest is called a Tank-Top.

Bordeaux

Following out trip to Barcelona, we returned to London for a few days and then promptly got back on a plane and headed down to Bordeaux, France.

Bordeaux at night

As I’m sure you're all aware, Bordeaux is famous for its fantastic wines and most people visit this region of France purely for the wine tasting- and taste wine we did! I would say that the city of Bordeaux itself is completely skipable. While it did have some very nice parks in which you can sit and enjoy a fabulous picnic of French wine, cheese and bread (all of the best things about France), the city is otherwise not very interesting. I think most people just use the city as a home base for wine tasting- and rightly so! Just 15 minutes out of the city you find yourself in the heart of wine country. Vineyards and sunflower-filled fields span as far as the eye can see.

French picnic: Baguette, Brie, Jambon and Wine

We drove from Bordeaux to St. Emilion stopping at a few of the most famous vineyards along the way. They were so famous, that they didn’t let ordinary people like us in to taste the wine! Only wine experts and the super-rich allowed.

Chateau Cheval Blanc: Owned by the Louis Vuitton empire and too fancy to let us in!

Bottles of Petrus wine go for about 5,000 euro a bottle (about $7,000)

I adored St. Emilion, despite the fact that it was packed with tourists. A small mountain of a town, it is topped by a historic Catholic church and contains tiny, winding, cobble-stoned streets lined with shops and cafes all the way down to the surrounding vineyards. The St. Emilion region is said to have some of the best wine in the world.

The countryside as seen from the top of St. Emilion
Me, St. Emilion

St. Emilion's winding streets

We spent an all-too-short hour or so in St. Emilion, just enough time to grab a sandwich and gawk at the rustic beauty, before heading on to château Clos de Madeline to do some wine tasting. We were greeted by the very friendly and exuberant owner who led our tasting, taught us the proper way to taste wine (“you must first warm it up in your hand, smell, swirl 6 times, smell, taste, swirl again”), taught us about the wine aging process and how to decant wine properly if you are trying to drink wine while it is “too young.” Our conversation often revolved around the effect of Global Warming on the French wine industry-something the château owner was very concerned about. He informed us that they were testing vines from the center of Africa to incorporate into their crop- as these vines would be more able to withstand the heat. He also informed us that some British wine-lovers are already beginning to plant vineyards on the southern coast of Great Britain, with the expectation that the weather will be the perfect temperature there in 10-20 years for wine. He told us, and I quote: “French people drinking British wine? Never! It will be world war three!!”

The Chateau owner

The countryside of Bordeaux was beautiful and the people extremely friendly- I would highly recommend a wine-tasting excursion here if you ever get the chance. Be forewarned, however, that unlike my wine-tasting experiences in California, vineyards truly expect you to buy wine after the tasting!! In fact, if you didn’t purchase wine after the tasting, they charged you 10 euro. This is understandable to me in the long run, but could become very expensive if you visited lots of châteauxs!!

After our visit to Clos de Madeline, we headed onto Pamplona, Spain for the San Fermin festival (aka Running of the Bulls) and the next leg of our journey!

<----------- Another New Blog Link

I've added another new blog link to the left here. This is the blog of another friend i've had since highschool, Lara. Lara lives on a boat in Charleston, SC and has just quit her job to pursue her art career full time. Check out her blog to see her fabulous gallery of artwork (hopefully more to come now that that pesky other full-time job isn't in the way) and follow her life in Charleston and beyond.

One of Lara's paintings entitled "Cows in Field"

Barcelona

As you may have noticed from our calendar on the left, it has been a hectic few weeks to say the least. So, let’s start at the beginning.

At the end of June, our friends Brian and Candace came out from the states. They spent a few days in London, but we also convinced them to travel with us to Barcelona, a city I have long wanted to visit.

We spent our first day in Barcelona walking up and down La Rambla, the city’s main shopping/people watching boulevard. We loved its restaurants filled with paella as well as all of the food markets.

Paella- yummy!

Food market on La Rambla

Next, we headed out to Gaudi’s famous church: La Sagrada Familia. From the outside, the Sagrada Familia reminded me of those sandcastles we used to make as kids by holding wet sand in our hands and letting it drop to the ground little clump by little clump until you have a lumpy looking mound. While the outside, to me, wasn’t very pretty, it was very interesting. The inside of la Sagrada Familia, however, was SPECTACULAR!!! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Gaudi is said to have been inspired by a forest and wanted the cathedral to invoke the feeling of lying on the forest floor and looking up at the trees. I think he was successful. The stained-glass windows blew me away more than anything else. They were so modern looking and produced such amazing light. The cathedral has been under construction for 100 years and is not scheduled to be completed until 2040, but I would go back just to see what it looks like at the end!!!

La Sagrada Familia

Inside

The next day, we hopped on the train and headed 45 minutes south of Barcelona to the beach town of Sitges. Lined with old Spanish churches and courtyards, this town had a very wonderful old-world feel to it. However, once you delve into the town centre, you are instantly aware of why it is called one of Spain’s biggest party retreats. Bars line most streets and colourful drinks are aplenty!

Brian and Candace in Sitges

On our last day in Barcelona, we headed north of the city to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. It was originally planned as a city retreat for the wealthy, but was never really completed. It was wonderful to walk through the park and see all of Gaudi’s nature-inspired designs intertwined with the Spanish landscape.

Me and Bobby, Park Guell

Bobby squishing La Sagrada Familia from the top of Park Guell

If I were every to go back to Barcelona, I would definitely plan on staying in Sitges and making day trips into the City instead of the other way around. While Barcelona was fantastic, there wasn’t a lot to do there and it would have been nice to sit on Sitges’ beautiful beaches a while longer!

UK Factoid of the Day

In the UK, the dance/song we call the Hokey Pokey is called the Hokey Cokey and the lyrics are as follows:

Put your left leg in
your left leg out
In
out
in
out
shake it all about

Do the Hokey-Cokey
and you turn around
That's what it's all about

I like Cokey
I like Cokey
I like Cokey

Knees bent
arms stretched
rah
rah
rah

UK Factoid of the Day

In the UK, what we call Cotton Candy is called Candy Floss.

<------ New Blog Link

I've added a link for my friend Sarah's blog to the left here.  Sarah and I have been good friends since high school and this is a blog she shares with her husband, Ben (although, much like our blog, Sarah writes most of the entries). 

Sarah and Ben are some of the greatest foodies I know.  She reviews a lot of restaurants in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area and beyond.  I always look forward to going out to dinner with these two because I know that it will be FABULOUS.  I have high aspirations for Sarah's blog becoming the next SmittenKitchen or for the two of them to open a fabulous bakery/restaurant of their own.    

 

Sarah and me at her wedding in California last November.