July 13th-15th

 Hello tout le monde!  Sorry i have been MIA for the past few days, but I have been very very busy.  Today is a free day where I will hopefully get some laundry done and prepare for our 3 day trip to Alsace, Germany and Switzerland!  It should be very very fun.  I added this picture of myself drinking coffee because I think it should be noted that I have been drinking massive amounts of cafe au lait here in France.  I think my record has been four espressos in one day.  And I am not drinking them to wake up, although in the morning that is sometimes the case, but more because they taste so darn good.  And as you can see below, they look pretty beautiful.  So, don't be surprised if I come back addicted to coffee.  

To the right are some barrels we saw at Fransois Frere's, which is the largest cooperage business in the world. They make barrels for just about all the wineries in the world and use oak that is about 80 years old.  Below you can see them making the barrels.  They are toasting them in the fire which can give the wine a toasty/oaky taste.  Barrels go for around $200 to even $1000.  This is why wine aged in 100% oak costs sooo much.  Oak also gives wine a buttery taste.

It smelled really good in the cooperage.  Just like a campfire with really expensive wood.  I should also add that the wood used to make the barrels is set outside on pallets and is aged for about 2 years to get some really good woodsy smells and flavors.  That was pretty interesting I thought.  

Above you can see the vineyards of Domaine de Louis Latour,  a pretty famous winemaker in France that ships out all around the world.  It was a beautiful and rainy day driving through the French countryside. The vineyard to the back let of this picture is called the Clos de Roi, for the King.  

The director of winemaking there led us down the cellar where everything was covered in Penicillin which made everything look ancient.  It was beyond cool.  To get down to where we tasted the wine, we had to go down the tiniest stone spiral staircase that was covered in water and webs.  It was like being in a pirate movie.  


In most of the wine cellar there were thousands of 
old bottles of wine.  The oldest were from 1890 and there were so many more from the 1940s and 1920s.  It was beyond amazing.  

Tomorrow we leave at 5:45am and right now I am going to go the grocery store to make an awesome dinner tonight.  All the guys here are very domestic and cook all the time.  Tonight I will finally join in the fun :)  I will probably not be able to update this till I come back from Germany, so I will talk to all of you in about 4 days!

 Yesterday we went to a vineyard in Jura near the town of Arbois where we visited Louis Pasteur's home.  Louis Pasteur discovered the rabies vaccine and is considered to the father of modern enology (study of winemaking)To the left you can see me in Pasteur's garden with a river and houses in the background.  It was a very hot and beautiful day.  

This is a really cool bike that was at his house: 

This is a really cool coat hanger in his house!

The vineyards in Jura were, as to be expected, stunning.  With all of the mountains in the background and the beautiful skies, it was like being in a dream or in a book.  I was continually stunned that I was there.  The wine was also very good, coming from 60 year old vines.  The Savagnin was very fruity and tasted like apples for a couple of minutes after drinking it.  In all, it as a pretty spectacular day.  

So if anyone wants to call me, after I went on a rampage and called everyone last night, you can call me back at (858) 866-9134.  This is my Skype number and I think you can leave me messages and all that, although I can't promise that I will be online all the time. In addition, my Skype username is capoppy18 if you want to connect on Skype.  Leave your username in the comment space below.

The Laundromat, 8 euros ($11 for a large load)

 So we went to the laundromat today since there is no laundry machines here and we can only live so long with washing our clothes in the sink.  Good thing there were four of us, because it was pretty darn expensive to do laundry, probably 18 euros.  


Below is the indoor market we go to.  They have many stalls for fish and meat and cheese as well as soo many fresh produce stands.  Everything is so fresh and yummy!

Laura and Laura, eating chips?

One of the many cafes we go to to eat very delicious food!  

Hello Everyone!


Since all we did today was go to the Lake and sit out in the sun, I thought I would take the time to list some of the wines that have been really great here in France.  Also, as a note, "clos" means wall or enlcosure so each clos is an enclosed vineyard, per se.


1. 2007 Chardonnay, Clos de Prieure from Le Domaine de la
   Vougeraie
   This wine had been aged in an oak barrel for 15 months and is 
   THE best white wine I have ever had.  The winemaker of this 
winery is the winemaker of the year (in all the world).  
Appearance: light gold
Nose: oaky-cedar, orange and apple
Taste: sweet apple/orange, buttery and nutty
Finish: smooth, short and light
Only made 4000 bottles this year
2. 2007 Pinot noir, Clos de Prieure from Le Domaine de la Vougeraie
Appearance: strawberry red
Nose: brown sugar, mossy, sulfur, like maple syrup sugar
   Taste: sweet! very chocalate-y throughout, very astringent 
   Finsih: more chocolate
3. 2009 Recolte, Saint-Romain. <Sous Le Chateau> Christophe    
   Buisson
   Appearance: clear, light yellow gold
   Nose: buttery, light and fruity (like oranges, more citric   
   acidity) Also a bit flowery
   Taste: acidic, citric, tangy
   Finish: clear and crisp, smi-smooth, a bit astringent
4. 2009 Gros Plant du Pays Nantais, Val de Loire
   Taste/Nose: Woodsy-->buttery vanilla, very smooth 
5. 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Vin de Pays des Coteaux Des Baronnies
   Appearance: Dark crimson red/purplish, not clear at all, a bit 
   brown
   Nose: softer tannin, smells very very good, like pancake syrup 
   and brown sugar
   Taste: astringent, light acidic and sweet, fruity and spicy!


That will be all for now!

Big Ben in the rain (June 28)

London was a lot of fun! I
especially liked going to
see Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe except
for the fact that I was
standing up for about three
hours straight.  Other than
that, the theatre was amazing
and the play incredible. 
The actors were all very
good and funny.  One of the
main characters was the
butler from "The Fresh Prince
of Belair," so that was
pretty cool!  Another thing
that I really enjoyed about London
was Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason's where everything was very fancy and proper, just like in all the
historical fiction novels I read.  They would have brought out more food if I had just been able to eat it, oh well. I really enjoyed my scones with clotted cream and jam, just like Maizie said I would. :)

Eating Cheese and Drinking Wine on the Seine

So when I was getting ready for
Europe I was wishing that Akshay
and Hallie could come with so
I blew up a picture of their
head and stuck it on the
back of a ruler. Here you
can see me kissing "Akshay"
under the Eiffel Tower.

One of our first dinners, obviously we were having a great time :)

 In front of the canals and gardens at Versailles. It was such a beautiful day and beautiful place to be with friends.  The palace was so huge and crazy luxurious.  So much decadence when all the peasants in France were living in squalor.  Also, it was really interesting to learn that it took half of France's GNP to complete the palace. 

From Left to Right: Dustin, Malia, Emma, Laura L on steps in front of Versailles.


And finally, a picture of me at the Clos de Vougeot where some of the best pinot noir is grown.



 This is Mount St. Michel! Malia and Dustin discovered quicksand which was pretty gelatinous and like walking on a water bed made out of sand!  We had a lot of fun but were a bit worried that Malia would fall all the way through.  Mount St. Michel is a monastary/abbey that was first created in the 8th century.  When the tide is out, anyone can walk around the island, like we did, but when the tide comes in the abbey becomes an island.  The abbey was so beautiful and was so much fun.  It was also the first time that Malia and I had mussels; they were ok. haha

Here is also another great view of Mt. St. Michel from the sand around it.  The ladybug at the bottom may or may not be from the abbey.  One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of ladybugs in France. Hopefully this will mean that there is a lot of luck flying around here :)

Today is a pretty laid back day. We were all tired from yesterday's full day of adventures from going to one of the most renowned wineries in the world, the cassisium where black currant liquor is made then going to the Chateaux de le Clos de Vougeot where we saw a wine press from the 12th or 14th century that were used until the mid-20th century. It was amazing to just walk through the wineries and smell the cellars; the smell was unbelievable. It smelled woodsy and a bit sweet.

If I could have breathed in that air forever I would have. I wish I could have bottled it and brought it back home.

Dijon is a quintessential little French town with narrow cobblestone streets with so many buildings built at least a century ago. When you do see modern buildings, it is a bit of a shock.