It’s great to have friends who do some of the work for you when traveling. It can take hours, even days searching for the spot, the wow place. Then finally an “Ah yes, that’s it”. That’s how we bumped into Camogli. This little town lies on a strip of rocky coastline south of Genoa and north of Portofino (and the… Read more »
Scenario: Trip planned, then just days before we learned of an excellent opportunity causing us to completely change things up. That’s how we landed in Verona, land of Romeo, Juliet, and wine. Purpose: Mark attended the Tenth International Symposium on Grapevine Physiology and Biotechnology. Location: Verona is an easy 1.5 hour train ride from Milan and 1 hour from Venice…. Read more »
On Saturday morning I took the regional train from Bordeaux Gare St. Jean to Libourne, (a quick 25 minute, 8 euro ride) where I met up with my new friends. From there it was a mere 10-minute drive to Saint Émilion (and their secret parking spot). I met Laetitia at a recent wine class where we immediately connected. She lives… Read more »
Some people asked what I’m doing while Mark is buried in chateau visits, vineyard soil pit analysis, and research papers. So here you go, a general update from the other half. I decided early on tackling the French language, at least having the ability to conduct daily activities was tops. I attended classes three mornings a week with a rotating… Read more »
Up early on a rainy Sunday, Tram C to Gare Saint-Jean, Chinon was waiting. Mark remained home working on a paper and oodles of statistical analysis. Wow, did I just call Bordeaux home?!? It takes 4 to 5 train-bus hours to get to Chinon from Bordeaux. (TGV or regular train to Tours Centre or Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, then bus to Chinon). As… Read more »
Jeanne d’Arc, declared a national symbol of France in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte, and one of the nine patron saints of France, greets us daily as we come an go from our new apartment. We recently moved to this location: it’s cuts down Mark’s school commute by 10 minutes, and puts us closer to the main down town area of… Read more »
This is a continuation of our holiday Carcassonne adventure focusing on wine. After hiking and exploring, we were off to learn more about the wines of the Languedoc-Roussillion. Since we didn’t have a car, and we were smack in the middle of the holidays, visiting wineries was a bit harder. Research uncovered Vins et Vinos, a small wine shop in… Read more »
My classmate Edward was born and raised in Bordeaux and offered to take us for a day-trip over to Arcachon, a small town about 1 hour west of here on the shores of Bassin d’Arcachon (actually a large sheltered bay connected to the Atlantic Ocean). Our primary objective was oysters (‘huîtres’ in French), but we also wanted to check out… Read more »
Once classes let out for the holidays, most of my classmates left town to go home. But a few of us stayed around, and we had Gonzague (French) and Tasos (Greek) over for lunch one day. Gonzague brought the baguettes and cheese (how French is that) and Tasos brought the fixings for (you guessed it) …a Greek salad! For Christmas… Read more »
Carcassonne was a planned stop on our way home from Ille sur Tête. How could one not stop in such a town, so much history and wine?!? To set the stage, Carcassonne draws about 3 million visitors annually. People primarily come to see the Cité de Carcassonne, a medieval fortress that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s basically a… Read more »