Nous Allons A Wine Country (Photos From Bordeaux Here)

Nous Allons A Wine Country (Photos From Bordeaux Here)

On a beautiful Sunday, 10 days ago, we arrived in Paris, where we are staying for a month. ONE MONTH. ALL OF JUNE IN PARIS. Ahhhh. We moved into our little apartment in St-Germain, two streets back from the Seine. For a week we drank wine, ate great food, watched sunsets and walked EVERYWHERE. We can’t walk enough. The city is too effing beautiful to be underground in the metro or speeding through in a cab. We walked early in the morning, late at night, left bank, right bank, across the bridges, on the banks of the river and everything in between. And it was the most social we’ve been since leaving the States. I feel like I’m back in New York, but with amazing french food. In the past week I’ve seen friends who live in Paris (haven’t seen them since they came to Kansas City for our wedding) and got to hang out with friends visiting from the States: my BFF Marla and her mother visited Paris while on a trip around northern Europe, and one of my oldest friends (years, not age), Gina, visited with her husband to see his friends and family. It’s been crazy good. Then our first real visitors arrived in Paris – the first ones who’ve come here specifically to see us –and we were SO. EXCITED. to see them. Two of my loves, Jeremy Feldmann and his wife Vicky Korobov, flew in from Chicago over the weekend and on Monday we hopped a 3-hour TGV (high-speed) train south. The only reason it wasn’t horribly painful to leave Paris was because a) I knew we’d be back in three days, and b) we were heading to Bordeaux with these two. We rented an apartment through AirBNB and met Alex, who lived in the place below ours. Alex, who’s from Australia, and his french girlfriend, Julie, attend university in Bordeaux and are working on their thesis papers for masters degrees in wine — yes, that is a thing, and no, I cannot believe I studied stupid Journalism. Alex was a font of information about the area. Told us to which area to go for the best wine tastings (St-Emilion, about a 30-minute train ride, or in our case, Uber drive, outside of Bordeaux – a village so cute and small that I actually ran into my friend Gina while walking around — her in-laws live there), which winery had the best lunch in all the land (La Terrasse Rouge – known for their grilled meats and we got the biggest entrecôte on the menu, natch), where to eat dinner in Bordeaux (best seafood ever at Le Petit Commerce) and took us out both nights we were there. The town of Bordeaux is perfect — formerly a walled city, set on the river and designed by Haussmann, the man who later re-designed Paris’s streets and buildings in the 1800s to look like it does now, so Bordeaux looks and feels very similar, just more laid back. It’s like a college town for grown-ups, and it’s a foodie, wino and francophile heaven. I fell in love. One of the best inventions: a self-serve wine bar. You apparently can’t steal the idea, as one is already on its way to Miami in the next year, but we are trying to figure out a way around that. It seems like something New York, Chicago and the rest of the US could use. The wine tastings in St-Emilion were great. We all agreed we rarely would order Bordeaux in the States, but the wine we tasted there was phenomenal. Mixes of mostly merlot, cabernet sauvignon and a bit of cabernet franc. Mmmm. We decided to do our own tour, rather than book one, and hit up five places. Our two tour guides, Magellan and Columbus, took care of the directions. Vicky and I took it all in, snapped a ton of photos and drank anytime we were offered a glass. It was not at all a bad few days. I’d say they were actually among our best yet. Now back in Paris, in a new apartment in Montmartre — the friends don’t leave til end of the week. And we have the WHOLE. MONTH. HERE. Ahhhh, life is really good. I’ll pontificate about the amazingness of Paris and post pictures from here in the next blog. But for now, images de vins de pays. Sante.

 

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14 Responses

  1. Beautiful!

  2. 1 word ” magical” love it cousin Denise!

  3. I can’t wait til the next blog. Live , Love, & Laugh

  4. i’ll tell u, it just keeps getting better and better…next time mommy and I are coming w/u guys…pardon moi, I must get back to my Bordeaux wine…adieu w/love, dad

  5. This whole French adventure is the spirit of Our Full Stop, isn’t it? Love seeing you guys so content (and well fed and “wined”)!

  6. Cheryl Mingrone

    Magical! I don’t know how you guys will re-enter the real world when it is time! Keep the blogs and pictures coming!

  7. A) Screw coming back so that I can see you, these made me really want to come to visit you. I’d forgotten how beautiful Paris is.
    B) I love that your Dad refers to your Mom as Mommy. We do too. Is this an Italian thing? Always wondered.

    xo

  8. There are not any words that come in to my brain to describe this adventure in Paris, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, be safe- Judy Serrone

  9. There are not any words that come in to my brain to describe this adventure in Paris, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, be safe- Judy Serrone

  10. Love all this!!! xx

  11. Soooooo gorgeous, enjoy the beautiful scenery, the food and the wonderful wine! Stay safe and healthy!!!

  12. rob toscano

    seen with long time friends, a lovely adventure. and yes it may be mommy is an Italian thing, I have passed that down to my children as my parents to me. grandma and grandpa were nonny and tata

  13. John Ferracane

    looks amazing denise. wish we were there…
    they had one of those self serve wine bars in the brickel neighborhood of downtown miami when i lived there 3 years ago. cool idea. you get a card, swipe it, then pich your wine and how much u want and it comes out the spout. you pay at the end. you are so right… why doesn’t nyc have this yet?
    cheers!

  14. Tita Kathy

    ooh, la la! how absolutely wonderful!
    love yous

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