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Published: April 30th 2011
This is the last entry of a very romantic week. As you may expect, we are now both ready for a small diet. What a week!
If you read this entry, you will also witness that travelblog, the site which hosts my blog, has gone through a serious facelift. They are experiencing a lot of teething difficulties, bear in mind, with time, everything will be leaner and way smoother.
The last 7 days have been pretty amazing and we are summing the experience with a night and a day in Saint Emilion. No, we didn't spent our time going through wine tastings and vineyards. St Emilion produce two amazing 1er Grand Cru Classe A, the most wellknown being Cheval Blanc. But I've never tasted Cheval Blanc, and at way over 1000 euros a bottle, may never as well. On top of that, what you want to drink are vintages who are at least 20 years old, slightly out of my "cellar" range and reach! St Emilion plays also host to a lot of vineyards who produce less than gorgeous wines. Put it simply, around Bordeaux area, these days, most wines are way less worthwhile than any New World Wine.
It is simply not because it is written Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux on a bottle, that you drink something "grand"!
So we kept ourselves centered around few other things than tasting. First the sun, after a week, the warm sun is still there...wow...even if we brought with us only a "spring" wardrobe! Next the food (still drinking thought), the romance and the interest in the region (obviously).
We are staying at Chateau Grand Barrail. The place is 3 miles out in the vines, lost in the vineyards. They have 40 rooms, but only 9 of them are actually into the "Chateau", and yes, we secured one of those romantic little digs...a place to cuddle!
Next, the restaurant at Chateau Grand Barrail may not have a michelin star, but they deserve one (not two!). We had a very romantic dinner just after sunset on the terrace, loved the experience and the cigar for desert, but the best part must have been the impressive lamb!
For our next lunch, we could have try the 2 stars michelin of Hostellerie de Plaisance in St Emilion, but they only have one lunch a week. We still enjoyed a great chat
with the chef Etchebest while visiting the place, he is making a great job! So for lunch, a lighter fare, Le Tertre, right in the middle of the Medieval Village of St Emilion...lighter fare, but not less of great quality!
Our morning was spent wondering the Village of St Emilion. I once passed by, but without really having a proper guide. This time we were prepared! We found out that if 95% of visitors are coming here for the wine, the village actually found his origin in Saint Emilion, the monk which brought millions of pilgrims to the village, and this for the last 900 years, while the wine has been the focus only for the last 200 years.
So we slept, we sunbathed, we ate, but don't worry, we also drank few nice wines on the way...all obviously from around here.
The celebrations of our third anniversary with Mari are over...already planning for next year! What a week, we just hope a day could have 30 hours so we could have slepts a little more.
Next entry coming in over a week...back to the waters. No more luxury entry for a while. It's mainly back
home, back to school for Leslie, and back for potentially a lot more emotions for the 3 of us in just over a month time.
For the next big trip, I've nearly covered most of the planning for July and August...that's going to be something!
Enjoy, because we do!
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Chris and Nikki
Chris
Did either of you suffer with many hang overs this trip? I love the pictures.