Back in Bordeaux, Derrick, Bethany and Da Jenn explored the city while Katie and I had to work.
A view of Place Victoire were they ate lunch one day.
After work we met up with them but not without a café first. Sitting here on an outside terrace in front of Cathédrale Saint-André et Hôtel de Ville. After we showed them around.
A view of Porte Dijeaux, one of the gates in the former wall around the old city limits.
Visiting L'Intendant, a wine store with spiraling staircase lined with some of Bordeaux's most expensive bottles.
Bethany and Derrick get a taste of their first canelé bordelais.
Picking out a French kids book for Bethany to take home for our friend, Hannah and her French Class.
Ta-Da, the fountain at Place de la Bourse
Jenn wanted an excuse to take a picture of Chez McDo so I gave the all-American thumbs up.
The big blue lion across the river at Place de Stalingrad. No one has yet to been able to explain what it means.
Out at night with the ladies, Katie and Bethany.
Katie and Jenn.
Caught in the act - feeling Italian and making some homemade pizza crust. "Thatza spicee meata balla..." my favorite thing to "say in Italian"
A view of Place Victoire were they ate lunch one day.
After work we met up with them but not without a café first. Sitting here on an outside terrace in front of Cathédrale Saint-André et Hôtel de Ville. After we showed them around.
A view of Porte Dijeaux, one of the gates in the former wall around the old city limits.
Visiting L'Intendant, a wine store with spiraling staircase lined with some of Bordeaux's most expensive bottles.
Bethany and Derrick get a taste of their first canelé bordelais.
Picking out a French kids book for Bethany to take home for our friend, Hannah and her French Class.
Ta-Da, the fountain at Place de la Bourse
Jenn wanted an excuse to take a picture of Chez McDo so I gave the all-American thumbs up.
The big blue lion across the river at Place de Stalingrad. No one has yet to been able to explain what it means.
Out at night with the ladies, Katie and Bethany.
Katie and Jenn.
Caught in the act - feeling Italian and making some homemade pizza crust. "Thatza spicee meata balla..." my favorite thing to "say in Italian"
Bethany and Derrick.
Dinner with everyone.
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One day during the week, we borrowed our flatmate's car and headed out for some winery visits and the city of Saint Émilion.
Our first stop was the famous Château Haut-Brion. This is one of the five first growths in the famous classification of 1855 and the only one that is owned by an American family.
A picture of the vineyard. This is the only first growth not to the north of Bordeaux but actually surrounded by the urban sprawl of the city in a subregion of Graves AOC known for its gravely soil.
Good old T.J. - Thomas Jefferson, that is. US President and wine connaisseur, he wrote of Bordeaux wines including Château Haut-Brion and had some of the most famous wines shipped back to his estate in the USA.
A picture of the fermentation room.
A look inside the gates at the château.
Like many of the top châteaux here they have an oak barrel maker who actually works in the château making barrels to Château Haut-Brion specific requirements.
The hall where are tasting took place.
A taste of one of the best wines that Bordeaux has to offer. We tasted the Château Haut-Brion 2004. We found this bottle later in Saint Émilion for 350€ !!! On the nose: some cinnamon, clove, slight hint of pine and the taste was nice and balanced, still a little young and tannic but a pleasure to taste with a nice lasting finish in the mouth.
After the visit, we headed for our next destination, Saint Émilion. Across the street from Château Haut-Brion was La Mission Haut-Brion, which is now a winery but at one point in its history served as a correspondance between the Pope and the church.
Bethany and Jenn in the car.
A picture of the old ramparts that used to be a wall on the way into Saint Émilion.
After parking, we started to wandered the medieval streets. Our noses led us to Macaroons shop. Traditional macarons are little almond flavored cookies. We were able to taste them and we were sold. We got some for our picnic and our friends got some for family back home.
Here is one of the wine shops in Saint Émilion. The salesman was really excited about the wine that he sold and you could tell that he selected it himself. He had wines at reasonable prices that were lesser known but great and unique.
Derrick and Bethany in front of the church.
It was now time to eat! We headed up to the same place that we had our lunch with our flatmates. Here is a picture of the picnic spread.
Da Jenn wonders "Is that the cheese that smells like that or something else..."
Good friends + good food = good laughs...
...lots of laughs...
...beaucoup de laughs!
The housetops of Saint Émilion.
A picture from our picnic spot.
Which is more pointy, the church steeple or my hair???
Dessert of macarons and sweet wine.
Relaxing after a good lunch.
Jenn and the countryside outside of good Saint Émilion.
This might be one of my favorite pictures of us. I LOVE MY WIFE!
After lunch, we visited the inside of the cathedral. Pictured above.
Here was a drawing on the wall from 1754.
Inside the courtyard of the cathedral.
Bethany told Derrick and I to "act natural." Turned out a real cool pic!
Us again.
Yeah, we're in love. Sorry for all the mushy pics. We don't have too many these since it's usually just us and we don't have friends around to snap pictures.
Our last stop of the day was a second winery visit to Clos Fourtet, Premier Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Émilion. Many of the wineries have caves underground that they use to house and age their wine. The caves are quarries left over from which they excavated limestone rocks to build the Saint-Émilion and Bordeaux.
Here was our tourguide who took us into the vineyard to tell us how they raised the vines and what they did in the vineyard during the year. She had really cool glasses with little outlines of roses creating the frames of the glasses. I've noticed that the French have some of the most eclectic yet stylish glasses.
Stopping to smell the flowers.
A look back into town.
We then went inside to the fermentation room pictured here. They had lemon trees in pots by the exit.
Here is the basket press used to crush the grapes.
Wine education.
Next the barrel room.
A view outside.
Next we headed down a spiral staircase to the caves, probably the coolest (literally) part of the visit.
It was now time to eat! We headed up to the same place that we had our lunch with our flatmates. Here is a picture of the picnic spread.
Da Jenn wonders "Is that the cheese that smells like that or something else..."
Good friends + good food = good laughs...
...lots of laughs...
...beaucoup de laughs!
The housetops of Saint Émilion.
A picture from our picnic spot.
Which is more pointy, the church steeple or my hair???
Dessert of macarons and sweet wine.
Relaxing after a good lunch.
Jenn and the countryside outside of good Saint Émilion.
This might be one of my favorite pictures of us. I LOVE MY WIFE!
After lunch, we visited the inside of the cathedral. Pictured above.
Here was a drawing on the wall from 1754.
Inside the courtyard of the cathedral.
Bethany told Derrick and I to "act natural." Turned out a real cool pic!
Us again.
Yeah, we're in love. Sorry for all the mushy pics. We don't have too many these since it's usually just us and we don't have friends around to snap pictures.
Our last stop of the day was a second winery visit to Clos Fourtet, Premier Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Émilion. Many of the wineries have caves underground that they use to house and age their wine. The caves are quarries left over from which they excavated limestone rocks to build the Saint-Émilion and Bordeaux.
Here was our tourguide who took us into the vineyard to tell us how they raised the vines and what they did in the vineyard during the year. She had really cool glasses with little outlines of roses creating the frames of the glasses. I've noticed that the French have some of the most eclectic yet stylish glasses.
Stopping to smell the flowers.
A look back into town.
We then went inside to the fermentation room pictured here. They had lemon trees in pots by the exit.
Here is the basket press used to crush the grapes.
Wine education.
Next the barrel room.
A view outside.
Next we headed down a spiral staircase to the caves, probably the coolest (literally) part of the visit.
Katie on the way down.
Barrels of wine aging in the cave.
Dust, mold and more growing on aging bottles just waiting for people to buy some.
Another perspective of the cave.
The tasting = Clos Fourtet 2004 - young and tannic could use a few more years for the tannins to settle down but still very full taste, got some red fruits on the nose and a little in the mouth along with some limestone or dust texture.
Our guide reading the review from the 10 ten wine book that I had brought. I think we caught her at the exact moment that she was blowing air through pursed lips which it seems like every French person is taught from an early age. When you are around it all the time you can't help but join in.
A beautiful sunset to end a fabulous day.
1 comment:
Un livre, pour nous? C'est magnifique! Merci beaucoup!
SBA 4th Grade
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