France Day 5 of 18 - Bordeaux Vineyards

As mentioned in my previous post, I took French a very very very long temp ago...
After talking with a friend who is sommelier, and browsing through a French vineyard catalog, I personally wrote to about 20 grand cru vineyards (majority in French) asking to set up a tour for the day that we would be in the region. Granted it was harvest season, very busy time for a vineyard to give tours, but only one responded yes.

A little history for those of you who like historical random facts:
Back in 1855, Napoleon II demanded that the French vineyards be classified (since all seemed great). This classification differentiated the premier grand cru (great first growth wines) which there are only 6 today (majority from the Medoc region in Margeaux in Bordeaux, the duexieme crus ect ect. There are only 66 classified as grand cru wines (great growths). After these classifications, the vineyard that got a classification of grand cru and especially premier or duexieme status were set for life. Since that classification, I do not think a wine had jumped up a level (maybe one - some may argue that it was a huge political reason act). In short, premier wines are tres tres expensive due to their status, duexiem are tres expensive and so on and so on. The good thing is even some of the ones that did not have a superb classification are excellent wines that you can get for practically nothing. Now you see why it was hard to get a private tour.

Now back to the blog - so we felt extremely lucky that one vineyard -Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou which is in the Sait - Julien region (which has 11 of the 66 1855 classifications) along the Girone estuary (which keeps the perfect atmosphere for the wines dry but access to water). It is 25 miles northwest of Bordeaux in Haut Medoc between Margaux and Pauillac. The vineyard is named after the stones in the ground that contribute to its flavor. It is also still owned by a family and not a well well known company like Channel.

We were able to get a private tour of the vineyard, cellars and a wine tasting. We even ended up buying a bottle of their cru in our wedding year. What a fascinating experience. Thanks to our friends at Ducru Beaucaillou for being such great hosts! We also bought about two cases of wine to get shipped back to the states to drink at their "premium" time. Shipping from Margaux saved us at least 3 levels of mark ups.
We even had time to do a quick tour of Saint Emellion, after taking a lovely leisurely boat trip, which was more of a touristy wine town.

France Day 4 of 18 - Ribeauville and Bordeaux

That morning we woke up early in Colmar and drove to Ribeauville which is on the "Route de Vin." One day a year they have a wine harvesting festival where they turn their small village fountain into a wine fountain!! The streets were crowed with lively medieval characters from monks who cut their hair to girls that were dressed as vines! Cheery bands played and wine vendors lined the streets. What a unique place to be! Floats were lined up just outside the village, preparing for their debut at the end of the day. The floats and characters almost put Mardi Gras experiences to shame. Empty wine bottles surrounded the floats and it wasn't even 10 am yet(secretly I was glad that we were leaving before the parade)! After enjoying the people watching and the sweet white wine, we headed out just after 10 am to the airport for Bordeaux (another wine region, but completely different ambiance.
When we landed in Bordeaux, we decided to check out the city right away and have dinner. The building that surround Bordeaux are magnificent white places built to hide the less visual builings on the interior.

Bordeaux is a bustling big city with nice walkways full of shops and businesses. I had planned to eat some traditional French cuisine from the region and even had a spot picked out, but after the celebration that morning, the overpriced exotic food on the menu did not seem appetizing. In fact, the pizza place down the street did! So, that is where we ended up - just to save cultural face, I did try a pasta dish that included some local French mushrooms that were delicious!

Destination Idea - Park City, Utah

Park City Utah is a wonderful long weekend get-a-way point. An ideal time to go is just when a few slopes are open (end of November) so that you can get a great deal on cabins that are apart of resorts. We got a cabin on the outskirts of the Hotel Park City. It was absolutely gorgeous! We had our own living room, kitchen, bedroom, two baths and don't forget the private hot tub outside! Sitting by the fire with the snow falling all around while Christmas music is playing on the Bose stereo will really put you in the mood!

Shopping on cute main street is a must. There is also a large outlet mall near by the Olympic slalom. We recommend going to Squatters (great food and brewery - order the Polygamy Porter - funny name in the region, but actually a tasty beer).
One fun thing to do is to drive to Montage for lunch (about 15 minutes from Park City). The food is amazing - especially the burger, and the view are nothing short of awe inspiring. Make sure to bring a camera, as you can't take a bad picture. For sure you will take some mental ones!
Basically there is something for everyone, (calm and relaxing or athletic skiing) and the surroundings are surreal.

France Trip - Day 3 of 18 "Alsalce -Route de Vin"

Our third day in France we drove the beautiful Route de Vin which stretches from Strasbourg to just past Colmar (no more than ~20 miles). As we drove through rolling hills covered beautiful vineyards that were screaming to be harvested, we stopped at adorable German looking villages that had a distinct French flair. As we drove we made a game of spotting castles on the hilltops. What a unique place to visit! Each town was gorgeous and had plenty of local wine to try from Rieslings to Gewurztraminer. Beautiful colored flowers hung in baskets out each window of the German style houses. Kaysersberg had a cute craft fair with a meandering stream that ran through the town. We ate crepes in the most visited town in France outside of Paris, a walled city called Riquewihr. The main drag was full of small cute shops with German/French knickknacks to buy as souvenirs. It even had a Kate Wofhart shop (German Christmas Heaven)! We ended the day in Colmar. What a wonderful picturesque day!

Destination Idea - Kentucky

We recently visited our close friends who moved to Kentucky.
Continental was matching a 72 hour Southwest birthday special that ran at the beginning of the summer which allowed you to travel any where within 500 miles for $40 etc.
(Travel planning tip: Check out other carriers when someone is doing a special to see if there is a match that works better for you.)

Travel for Two Top Ten Reasons to Visit Kentucky at the Beginning of October:

10. Stay at an old historic hotel - Browns Hotel was known in the early 1900s as the place to be in Louisville. The decor and old memorabilia is quite interesting to see. The rooms are spacious too.

9.See a bit of history - tour honest Abe's birth place. It is amazing they don't have this little cabin preserved better.

8. The weather is ideal. It is nice and cool but lovely in the sun.
The leaves are starting to change color.

7. Drive through the beautiful rolling hills with the windows rolled down or better yet in a convertible. Beautiful birds and wildlife are all around - we saw cardinals, blue jays, and beautiful deer to name a few.

6. Its that time of year - Baseball play offs - Tour the Louisville Slugger museum - you can see the factory, which bats are about to be shipped out for the play off major league sluggers, and even get to hold some famous bats that have been used. We are Major baseball fans, but I think this museum is fun for everyone.

5. If it gets a little to chilly (or even if it isn't), take a bourbon tour to warm you up. Woodford Reserve is nothing short of excellent. Only $5 and you can tour this small distillery and taste this sweet buttery goodness from a bottle that the one and only Kentucky Derby calls its own. A souvenir bottle is only $43 with a personalized plaque.

4. Lyn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville - many food network stars have stopped by... I highly recommend the Cinnamon swirl french toast with bourbon custard topped with chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream. nuff said.

3. Horse races are starting up - Keenland is in Lexington quite beautiful track. Even if there is not a race scheduled for the weekend, take a stroll around the area and try to see the horses warm up between 6-10 am.

2. There is always another bourbon tour to go on...

1. Kentucky is perfect for visiting friends and making memories on a short weekend getaway!


 Top Ten Reasons to Visit Kentucky in Spring:

So I went back to good 'ol Kentucky in spring. This time my father was my companion.  so I decided to do a top 5 reasons for visit in Kentucky in the spring!
5. Churchill Downs is a must.  The perfect weather is ideal to take a tour.  You get the run down (no pun intended) on the fastest sport in the usa. From rules and legends to heros. Your apreciation on this fine taste for gambling will be enhanced guaranteed. I particularly enjoyed the glass replica of the track, the portrait wall of jockeys and trainers,  the long list of winners and thier stories (especially secraitariat), how the horses get thier names and most of all the view from upstairs. I told the guide what my favorite spot was and he told me that was the very place Queen Elizabeth stood to watch the derby! I always knew I had exquisite taste!
4. Baseball baseball baseball. Catch a college game if you can.
3. Appreciate that there is a starbucks and jimmy johns on every corner in loiusville. Some how I missed this the first go around.  ?
2. If you think you are missing out on the fall/winter weather ... you might get a taste like we did... freak ice and snow storm over night!  Woodford reserve bourbon (my favorite ) will keep you warm!
1. Bowling Green. Nuff said. "Your dreams are made in Bowling Green!" Pick up your custom corvette there! Warning: If you don't drive a chevy they might make you park a few miles away from the museum. VIP tour of the factory is a must as it is any gear head's Disneyworld! I talked to the guy on the line that puts on the steering wheel and the guide told me. .. "now you have meet the nut behind the wheel! " if you pay enought they will let you build your own engine!
Next is the museum. Speechless. Did you know the original vette logo had an American flag as the corvette is deemed as "America's sports car"! Turns out you can t claim the American flag as a marketing logo so they had to change it.
We just happened to go at the time that they were pulling out one of the most priceless Corvettes (black 62)  out of the sinkhole that swallowed 8 vettes two weeks before. Yes I think I was on the discovery channel as they were shooting live footage.  Don't ask me why they decided to build the nations best sports car facility in a sinkhole ridden area or the nation's gold reserves that matter.

France Day 1 and 2 of 18 "Alsalce -Strasbourg"

So I haven't blogged in a while, but with good excuse.... We took our trip to France!
Unfortunately my family has a traveling curse. This curse involves weird things happening on trips, but things usually end up good.
This trip started off shaky as I got in a car accident with a little ol' lady the day before we left when I went to get luggage...
It was super hot outside and the old lady turned out to be a real pill.
Needed less to say it took a couple days to unwind.
We had a friend take us to the airport which was nice not to have to pay parking for 18 days. The flight there was not bad at all.
We flew direct to Frankfurt via Lufthansa on points. They include a bus ride to Strasbourg. We like Lufthansa since they are very clean, detailed, and know where your baggage is at all times.
Our tv didn't work, and after trying to reboot a few times, the airline attendant offered us some euros to spend on the in flight magazine.

We took advantage of our brief time at the airport by going to our favorite chain German pastry place, Kamps. Germans rock at making the yummiest pastries. My hubbie snuck in a pretzel too. We slept on the bus which was a "no no" making our time adjustment a bit harder.

Strasbourg was absolutely beautiful and cute. We walked all around France's "little France." I enjoyed this town much more than I thought I would. After seeing ornate churches all over Europe, I was not expecting to enjoy Strasbourg's church as much as I did. It had an interesting astronomical clock inside.

We picked up our car and headed for Obernai which is the first town on the Route de Vin. This adorable walled city had a beautiful square, church, and well where we took lots of pictures. We learned here that The French like carosels in their towns. This cute town even has a WWII plack explaining when it was liberated. The Alsace region has been fought over by the French an Germans for centuries. The Germans specifically spared some towns from war destruction on the Route de Vin because they liked them so much. These towns resemble German towns, but have a French flair.

To end the day, we were referred to a restaurant called "Tete du Lard."
I told the waitress,"it was funny since your restaurant name translates to "fat head."
She told me that was their specialty... Pig's head....
And so our French adventure began......

Bidding Goggles

If you have ever bought a hotwire.com hotel you should be pretty familiar with the how the system goes, but I will explain it for everyone else.

As Hotwire.com ad's mention when hotels have unsold rooms they give them to Hotwire to liquidate at reduced prices.

So 4 star hotels in New Orleans for 2 star prices.

But where is the Catch? If everyone knew that great hotels would drop their prices in half weeks before a check-in the entire supply-demand principal would collapse.

So yes there is a catch....

Below I have shown some of the zones that hotwire uses in New Orleans. You are given the choice of a hotel in La Place, New Orleans East, Airport Area, Downtown / French Quarter and last Harvey. Assuming you are a tourist you would like to probably stay in the French Quarter, but the French Quarter, Business District, and the Garden Distric are all in one zone. (Some cities are better zoned).

Once you have chosen a location they will make 2 or 3 offers for either a 3 star, 4 star or 5 star hotel with a higher price as you work up to the 5 star level. They will tell you just a couple of key facts about your hotel such as if it has a restaurant, gym, pool or laundry service to name a few and sometimes they will tell you if the hotel has a high approval rating on Tripadvisor.com (one of my favorite websites for all travel needs.

That's it, a 2 - 4 sq mile proximity, hotel class, and a few amenities. Once you have given them your money and agreed to the price they will reveal your hotel to you.

Hotwire is a good way to save 20-50% on hotels prices on any other website. I recently used them multiple times in Paris because due to conventions the city was really booked and rooms were very limited driving prices of a 3 star hotels to ~ $300 a night. Using hotwire I was able to go up a category (4 star) and save some money as well, have a safe, nice, clean upscale hotel room.

Although I like hotwire, sometimes not all hotels are created equal, It would be really nice to know what hotel I was agreeing to before they took my money. You could get the hotel on the far side of town away from everything that just got downgraded to a 3 star ect... so I came across a great website that fixes that for you. http://www.bidgoggles.com/

By going to this website and launching their application, it will open http://www.hotwire.com/ along with a decoder screen. Put in the City, Dates, and Star Level, then Hotwire will provide a "nameless" 4 star hotel with certain amenities (pool, gym ect.) put that data into bidgoggles.com and they will give you a short list of hotels (hopefully 1 ) that meat that criteria. Once you have the short list go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ compare the "tripadvisor rating" from hotwire and tripadvisor.com to see if you can find a match. If you like the hotel BOOK IT. This is a great way to get great rooms for a lot cheaper then anywhere on the net.