Hello from Alsace, bonjour d'Alsace, Hallo aus dem Elsass

We arrived in Alsace expecting it to be the most active part of our trip and unfortunately, some would say fortunately, it has not turned out that way. As in Provence the plan was to rent road bikes however there were difficult to find on the internet before the trip so we were advised that the person greeting us would have information that would direct us to a local place for what we needed, well lets just say these bikes were not only not fit for roads but I would not even take them in a parking lot for a spin!

Needless to say I was extremely disappointed… this area is fantastic for cycling and try as hard as I could to find another location that would get me what I wanted, I could not… I now know what business I can start if I moved here! Note to self, bring my own bike next time...

So after some significant pouting, a little pornographic language, and some running to expel some energy.. I have accepted the new focus of our time in Alsace…… which is what you ask? Well, morning runs through the miles of local vineyards, afternoons in hill top villages visiting the history and shops, early evenings on Cafe patio's with a glass of local Cremant..and dinner.. well… sometimes on our wonderful little patio… and other times in Michelin star restaurants… ok..ok… maybe I should not be so whinny.. but seriously.. if you could see the cycling opportunities around here you might just have thrown a little temper tantrum….its like being starving, having the best meal in front of you, and not being able to eat it!

Here are some images of our time here so far………

Our little village...

Our apartment ready for breakfast

View of the Grand Cru vineyard from our balcony

Castle vist

Second floor, she is a beauty!

An evening dinner on our little terrace...

Colmar

Vineyards as far as the eye can see! 

This region, known as Alsace, has always been densely populated, Alsace is famous for its high number of picturesque villages, churches and castles and for the various beauties of its three main towns, in spite of severe destructions suffered throughout five centuries of wars between France and Germany. Mostly however Alsace is famous for its vineyards, along the 170 km of the Route des Vins d'Alsace that is highly travelled. 


You may noticed the distinctly German character of the villages, well the area has fallen under a number of different kingdoms. Thank's to Wkki and a little help from Dwight here is the resulting chronology..it certainly makes it a very interesting place to visit………..

Year	Event	Ruled by	Official common language
847–870	Treaty of Verdun gives Alsace and Lotharingia to Lothar I	Middle Francia (Carolingian Empire)	Frankish, Old High German
870–889	Treaty of Mersen gives Alsace to East Francia	East Francia (German Kingdom of the Carolingian Empire)	Frankish, Old High German
889–962	Carolingian Empire breaks up into five Kingdoms, Magyars and Vikings periodically raid Alsace	Kingdom of Germany	Old High German, Frankish
962–1618	Otto I crowned Holy Roman Emperor	Holy Roman Empire	Old High German,Modern High German(Alemannic spoken widely)
1618–1674	Louis XIII annexes portions of Alsace during the Thirty Years' War	Holy Roman Empire	German
1674–1871	Louis XIV annexes the rest of Alsace during the Franco-Dutch War, establishing full French sovereignty over the region	Kingdom of France	French (Alsatian and German tolerated)
1871–1918	Franco-Prussian war causes French cession of Alsace to German Empire	German Empire	German
1919–1940	Treaty of Versailles causes German cession of Alsace to France	France	French
1940–1944	Nazi Germany conquers Alsace	Nazi Germany	German
1945–present	French control	France	French

[edit]

 I must admit the trekking here has been great.. with the lack of bicycles I have been making Dwight walk everywhere.. yes, run in the morning.. trek all day to the neighbouring villages.. I know, I know… its sounds like a lot of exercise but seriously.. how else am I suppose survive the food, wine and beer I am consuming on this trip!!! 


Now for more pictures……. :-) 

Grand Cru Vineyards everywhere!

An old wine press...

Dwight exiting the wine press! 

Ok.. a few more then I am done…….

Vineyard view from our hilltop town, yum yum

Not ready yet….

Dwight giving me his wine lesson of the day...

Our town at night.. much quieter!! 

I do know that this should stop… Alsace wine marketing, I can explain the stork later.. but yikes!

Thats all for now.. off to Paris in a couple of days……. should be exciting to see the end of the Tour de France… not to mention being in Paris… so much to do!! 


Till next time, happy chatting..

French lessons in Chateauneuf du Pape

There were so many wonderful things that happened on this excursion that I don't really know where to begin…. Some of you might know that one of Dwight's favourite wines is Chateauneuf du Pape.. and that unfortunately it is very difficult, and expensive, to get in Canada. Well we were staying in Aix en Provence which is about one hour and thirty minutes  away from the famous small village.

We had a couple of options but decided that because this was a special place we needed a special tour… so we found one.. and OMG was this a great day… let me explain…..

We contacted a company that not only offered tours of the area but where you could also hire a private guide… well that's exactly what we did.. and for a price :-) we were picked up in a Mercedes S class sedan, driven to Chateauneuf… had wine tours with just the two of us, lunch at a castle, and shipped home a case of wine! I can't wait to tell you all about it……

Lunch location… yum yum….

It all started with the introduction to our guide.. his name? Jean-Baptise.. yes, I know … I could not believe it when he told me his name. His history, he grew up in France, travelled the world and has now settled back in France, his wine background… taught by his Grandfather at the age of 7 years old how to taste wine and pair it with food he has been in the wine business for years. He has been a wine broker, worked in the vineyards, ran a winery with a partner… but most of all he is the most passionate person I have ever met when it comes to wine! Boy did he and Dwight have a lot to talk about! 

Dwight and Jean-Baptiste

He tells a story that I only wish I could capture as well as he articulated it… it was a time when he was first learning about wine, around the age of 8 years old… he was at a restaurant with his Grandfather who order wine and asked JB to tell him the variety, age, and maker… which he did… but when his Grandfather asked him what food he would pair with it JB got it wrong! And his Grandfather hit the roof… saying that you can be good enough to taste the wine but to really understand it you must be able to know what eat with it… ! JB has learned from the best, he said that his Grandfather would even send back wine if the Sommelier would not pair the food properly with the selection…! Yikes…! 

The first stop was at a winery you may know; Ogier, it is a well know producer in the region and has a special blend that he really wanted us to try. They have taken the grapes from each of the different Terroir in the area and create a line of wines call The Expression de Terrior… made up of, red sand stone, limestone, pebbles, and sand .. they make it to represent the different soil influences, and you could really tell the difference……not to mention its Chateauneuf de Pape wine.. YUM!

The Expression du Terrior

Then we were off to lunch, lamb, greens.. and of course.. wine!

View from lunch

Dwight and JB

The next part has to be the best.. well.. I think so.. Jean-Baptiste took us to a private cellar… not his.. although he does have over 3000 bottles himself, his 7 year old son also has a collection (started by JB of course) that includes two bottles of 1947 Chateauneuf from his Grandfathers cellar!

We went to Guy's place.. and let me tell you.. what a treat, as soon as he found out that Dwight not only liked wine but also knew what he was talking about he immediately started pulling out the good stuff! I tried a white Chateauneuf du Pape for the first time, OMG it was good!

The inconspicuous entrance, thankfully we had JB

Have you ever seen him with a bigger smile! 

OH MY! 

And Guy was just as passionate about wine! 

Just a small part of the cellar, cases and cases of Chateauneuf!

And cases of Chateau Beaucastel stacked 4 high!

And now we have his email address! 

Shipping wine to BC is impossible, something that made Guy very angry… he says the Canadian market is the largest in the world and is the most difficult to work with… to quote.. "you let ONE person decide what wine you drink!, in France it would be cause for a revolution!" He encouraged Dwight to go home and start supporting his cause by lobbying and refusing to buy the crappy wine! And so you know what we are missing Canada, we tasted wine from this region that we will never see, that the French want to send us, and that cost less than a case of beer! 

We did ship a case - destination and details are to be kept secret in case the BC liquor distribution board reads blogs… but I can not wait till we get it at home! 

So we ended our time in southern France with this wonderful experience… and have arrived in Riquewihr, in the Alsace region.. where some some of my favourite wine is… Riesling.. and one of my favourite foods… Foie gras not to mention we are very close to Champagne :-) ! 

Will blog again soon………… 

Till next time happy chatting………..

The Côte d'Azur, soleil, la mer, et moi!

We spent the day on the French coast today, all I can say is another wow… what a beautiful place! The first part of our journey was on the train.. yes I made Dwight take public transport yet again, secretly I think he really enjoys being with strange people packed into moving cars while travelling! 


Actually taking the train in Europe is very pleasant, its roomy and quiet and you get to watch the country side go by… we were even to bring our bikes! 

The two small towns we focused on were Bandol and Sanary sur -mer.. barely noticeable on the map and wonderfully quiet… these are the French Rivera towns that the mass tourist crowds don't know about.. but I also don't think you are going to run into Tom Cruise in any of them either…. for us it was perfect. 


Jules Verne, the French author who pioneered the science fiction genre spent some time in Bandol. You would know his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, I can see why he wrote about the sea…. Bandol also has vineyards surrounding the town, they are spread all along the coast and produce some of the best wines in Provence.. not that I tasted any :-) 

From Bandol we jumped on the bikes and followed the coast down until we got close to Toulon… its a rather large city so we avoided it and focused only on the villages along the way. 

My favorite town by far on the way out… and back… was Sanary sur-mer.. a small fishing village right on the coast, filled with bustling french fisherman selling their catches and a local market where everything was so fresh, we stopped for a quick lunch on the way back…..but not your typical lunch...

So I know that this picture does not look all that appetizing but I can assure you it was..! We went to the market that was set up right by the sea and bought some local nectarines (I have to tell you that these have been wonderful!) and a small chicken……or at least we think it was chicken :-) 

Actually roasted on site, small delicious roast chicken in a bag, OMG this this was so good! Dwight was not licking his fingers he was gnawing on them! I think they marinate it in butter for hours before they actually roast it…..

After our ride we headed back to Bandol where we spent a couple of hours sitting in cafe's and watching the national sport…..well it may not be a national sport but it sure is popular around here!!!!  

The game is Boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack.  The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, and the people we were watching took it very seriously! They use measuring tapes to determine points and spend a lot of time discussing the distance of one ball versus the other…… absolutely entertaining! There were at least six different matching happening when we were watching and every one of them was great! 

The day ended with us catching an earlier train than we were  originally booked on, Dwight being the law abiding citizen he is was already feeling uncomfortable with breaking the rules…. but hey.. it meant that we were going to get back to town sooner and that meant a glass of wine was in front of him  sooner…. so I won! 

Only one small glitch in the plan… our connecting train in Marseilles…well we were not completely sure it was the one we needed, it was a commuter train and not a whole lot of english was being spoken…. the notice said we were going to Gap… which Dwight was pointing out, AFTER we got on the train, was near the Swiss border! You should have seen the look on his face… I almost could not stop laughing…..Well with some broken French "est ce train d'aller à Aix en Provence?" we got a qui… so we waited and hoped for the best… turns out they new what they were talking about and we did make it home….. I would point out however that the train was going to Gap, lucky for us Aix is on the way! 

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois .. heureuse sur le Chat!……….Till next time.. happy chatting! 

Doing something I love in a wonderful place!

Bonjour et merci pour lire mon blog!

We headed out cycling today, all I can say is WOW! Its exactly how I imagined it would be, rolling single lane roads, vineyards forever, small towns everywhere….I didn't however anticipate the climbs..I  am ok with them but its the one part Dwight didn't like much!

There was one thing that made the day pretty tough, and that was the heat… after 4 hours in 30+ degrees and humidity that makes even my hair frizzy we were both rather spent…. coming from a place that sees less sun and heat than the inside of a cave it was a real shock. We drank lots of water, and stopped regularly to enjoy the surrounding but the climbs were definitely draining…once at the top we were treated to a wonderful view of the country side.. that is of course after I resuscitated Dwight..

All along Dwight provided the commentary, who needs a tour guide when I have my own Sommelier with me…. the primary grapes they grow in the region are Cinsault and Grenache, its the G in GSM and these are the grapes used for making their famous Rose', which by the way is delicious. The country side is scattered with vines,  Dwight tells me the are growing them a specific way…. its called VSP, Vertical Shoot Positioning, so I hear you… what? and Why do I care? Well its the way they make wine and anything about wine is important!

They prune the vines so the new growth goes up the trestle creating a canopy for thats covers the fruit and they use it here to provide shading for the fruit from the hot sun.

And the donkey? Well, I just thought they were cute :-)

c'est tout pour le moment, jusqu'à la prochaine fois heureux chat …

Aix en Provence

So after a much needed nap we decided to force ourselves to overcome the 9 hour time difference between here and home.. the choice? A walk, a beer, some great people watching, and dinner, and did I mention the Rose?

Aix en Provence is a small town trenched in history, its early beginnings date to Roman times and after a few barbarian lords as well as fairly vicious plagues it was Good King Rene who returned Aix to its glory. So as Dwight sits beside me and continues to encourage the history lesson for the blog I am forced to exclude what I am sure you may read on your own, if you so desire, the Revolution, Napoleon and the subsequent misunderstandings with Germany.

We are staying in the middle of the old city, Rue Espariat, the building itself is some 300 hundred years old and I am sure there is not a right angle in it! And obvious lack of elevators..! Good thing we have been working out!

Stairs to the apartment

View from our balcony!

The old town is made up of squares, like most old European cities the central square was the meeting place for important gathering, social and political, and it still is…. we find ourselves drawn to the hustle and bustle of these areas, they have changed for sure… less politics and more white socks and sandles. It does not make them less appealing, its still a wonderful spot, why? Because even though the tourists come and eat, drink, taking pictures, the locals will not relinquish the meaning of place, the reason it was created, the reason it still exists.

A stroll through the town revealed side streets that were mysterious and yet somehow familiar, funny thing is a feel completely comfortable here…. the language, the vibe, the people, and well the food and wine go without saying… OMG…. its only been 1 day! I am in some serious trouble…….!

Till next time …happy chatting….

France; food, wine, cycling and finally summer!

So I didn't expect to get my first days of summer in July while in France, but it looks like that is exactly what is going to happen!

We are off on what I hope to be a wonderful vacation, its the first time in years since I have taken three weeks vacation. The wonderful thing is that I actually feel like I am in a position professionally and personally to absolutely enjoy what this trip will bring.

The plan, a week in southern France, a week in Alsace, and 9 glorious days in Paris…. the plan, drink good (great wine), sample the wonderful food, cycle through the French country side, and ultimately end up in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. If you check in on this blog I will post some picts and some comments… that is if you feel like watching the trip….

Till next time - happy chatting….