Tag Archives: France

Paris the Finale!!!!

Europe, , , , , , ,

Our final stop was Paris, the grandest finale possible to a great trip. We stayed in a hotel for the last leg of the journey. It is situated very close to the Arc De Triomphe built by Napoleon Bonaparte in his rule as dictator over France after the Revolution.

The day after we arrived we walked to the Musée d’Orsay where one can find great works of art by world famous painters like Vincent van Gogh and Monet. The most impressive painting I saw was “Starry Night”, however the most interesting and original thing I saw was a model of the Paris Opera House.  Did you know that the visible stage accounts for only  a third of the actual height of the total stage structure!

After the museum we went on a walking tour of Paris called “Paris under the Nazi Occupation”. An interesting thing I learned was that even the non-rebels would do small acts of defiance like stand up when on a train as it pulled in and out of the George V metro station to show respect to England and the Allies.

The next day we went on two different hop-on hop-off bus tours which gave us great views of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe (pictures below). After the tour we went into the Jewish district of Paris which has the largest Jewish population of any other major city in Europe. So we had to get a falafel to share; they were so good we had to go back and get one each!

For the final day in France we did a market tour in the morning which explained the day of a stall owner. They get up between 2-4 AM to purchase their fresh produce because it is usually all sold out by 6:00 AM.  After that they set up their stalls for customers who start coming as early as  7AM. We also went to the best chocolatier and the best fromagerie, needless to say they were both fantastic.

After the tour we walked back to our hotel, picking up a picnic dinner from Marks & Spencer’s for while we pack. I have had the trip of a lifetime, seeing world famous buildings and eating at world famous restaurants. I thank my parents so much for this great opportunity. Thank you for supporting my blog, see you on my next trip!

The Eiffel Tower
Goofy Ryan
Yummy ice cream!
Awesome Eclairs….
The falafels.
A purse made completely made out of chocolate.
Daddy’s eclair
A beautiful sunset
My dad holding the Eiffel Tower
Starry night by Vincent van Goh
Good bye France!

Back in the Loire valley!

Europe, , , , , , ,

We are now in a large house in Samur. Because we are getting to the end of our trip this is our week to relax. On the first day we  hung out by the pool and it was sunny and warm so we were glad for a pool.

We are back in the Loire valley only 30 minutes away from where we stayed almost two months ago! There are many chateaus in France but I was astonished when I found out there are over 40,000 of them! So we went to see the Chateau of Saumur which is famous for its collections of French porcelain.

The next day we relaxed again and the day after that we went on a wine tour of the valley. My family and I learned how to make rosé wine, one would think mixing red and white wine would be best but that method is illegal in France. There are some varieties of grapes that have red skins but white juice so you use those grapes. You crush them and let them sit in the skin pulp for 2-4 days before removing the pulp from the juice. The pulp adds the pink colour and alters the flavour of the wine.

I also learned that there are three ways to ferment the grapes; in steel vats, in barrels and in concrete vats. I knew about barrels and stainless steel vats but not about concrete vats. Apparently you have to paint the inside of the vat with a special paint that makes sure the wine does not seep into the concrete. This method was used 50-60 years ago but is coming back into practice now. We are coming to the end of our trip but look forward to one more post!

Ryan in the pool.
Wine fermenting in a barrel.
Wine fermenting in a cement vat.
Wine fermenting in a steel drum.
The Chateau of Saumur.
More of the Chateau.
The main tower of the Chateau.
Wine we bought on our tour.

The cellars of Champagne

Europe, , , , , , ,

The first day we were in Beaune we went biking. There was a bike route that went through the vineyards and villages. We cycled through 32 km of country back roads and farm paths, occasionally coming across a small village. Conveniently there were corner stores in every village so we could get water because the day went up to 35C!

On the second day we walked around the town of Beaune. We went to a mustard tasting where we tried 10 different kinds of mustard, some spicy, some mild, some have berries and some unusual flavors like blackberry or red pepper, Ryan’s favorite was maple syrup!

The B&B we are staying at is the best we have visited so far, with a spacious interior and an air conditioning unit, even the pool was the best one (because it was so hot outside). For that reason we swam in the morning of our big drive from Beaune to Verzy in the Champagne region.

We went to visit some big champagne houses on our first day. We visited Moët and Chandon’s champagne cellars where we learned the process on how to make champagne. One would first make regular white wine by pressing and fermenting the grapes. You then bottle it with added yeast and sugar to ferment more, this second fermentation is what gives champagne its bubbles. Once the second fermentation is complete there is residue or sediment on the bottom of the bottle, to get it out they tilt the bottle forward so it all comes to the neck of the bottle which they freeze, open the bottle and the small ice cube pops right out.

The second champagne house we went to had closed its cellars but we saw how they promoted their company. For example, they built the world’s biggest barrel of champagne and carted it to the world expo in Paris where it won second place behind the Eiffel tower. What I found interesting is Champagne grapes must be picked by hand so that the red skin of the grape does not interfere with the white juice. We are learning a lot in the region of champagne, and I hope to learn more! See you next time!