Trois jours in Sancerre

02/07/201902/07/2019

Fence leading to baby corn and wheat fields.

My fist attempt at sun bathing. Too Hot!

First wine tasting offering. Almost all businesses were closed due to the heat wave.

Justin did manage a wine tasting here on Sunday.

Music scheduled here but turned out to be a poetry jam.

Stopped here for pre-dinner drinks https://www.panoramic-hotel.fr/

Keeping cool at https://www.panoramic-hotel.fr/

Taste Bar at https://www.panoramic-hotel.fr/

Another part of the property for a camper.

The stairs leading away from the camper back to our gite.

This dog! A couple joking, “we should charge 25 euros!”

The boutique was over priced! Nicest Lady though…

The other gite. Empty throughout our stay.

Playing In Paris’ Park Monceau

16/07/20161 Comment

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Situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the beautiful Parc Monceau dates back to the 17th Century. Once an English styled garden, later during the 18th century landscape architect Thomas Blaikie was hired to redesign the once private garden and created a more traditional French formal garden for the public. Parc Monceau contains many picturesque features including: a Roman colonnade, a miniature Egyptian pyramid, a Tartar tent, a Dutch windmill, a water lily pond, an enchanted grotto, a temple of Mars, and an Italian vineyard with numerous antique statues. For the kiddos, there is a playground and circus inspired merry-go-round.

An interesting tidbit (for you and only because we recently visited the French Impressionist Claude Monet House), between 1876 and 1878, Monet created 5 paintings of the park, all of which are quite well-known among his fans.

Classically styled Roman Collonade were constructed in the late 17th Century.

Our statuesque Lafayette dates back sometime in the 21st century. Hahahaha. Parc Monceau is one of a handful of parks which allow dogs giving Lafayette some romp time before visiting his veterinarian near by.One can see many flower gardens throughout the park making for a pleasantly fragrant and visually vibrant stroll.

Parc Monceau is a charming park which has changed throughout the years from its original landscape. It is secluded and off the beaten path from many who visit Paris.

Where the Main meets the Rhein

16/06/201516/06/20154 Comments

Guten Morgen, Guten Tag or Guten Abend!

I’m starting off with something funny…or at least what I thought sounded funny. Frankfurt is where the Main (pronounced, mine) meets the Rhein (pronounced, rhine) Say it out loud? “Where the “mine” meets the “rhine!” This is exactly how our tour guide introduced his first sentence. His unintentional rhyming definitely introduced the first of many laughs while his cheerful humour kept our interests afloat during my tour with ETS Frankfourt City Tours.

Last week, I spent 3 nights and 4 days in Frankfurt, Germany. Although this trip was a more of a tag-a-long trip while Justin worked out of the Frankfurt office, I was happy to come along. I had planned on lounging around the Radisson Blu Hotel, watching movies, ordering room-service, swimming and working out, which I did for the most part. But on day two, I wanted to see something! I figured I wouldn’t really have much to do in the city other than shopping so a friend suggested that I visit the river Rhein. How about some castels? Yes! But just how was my lazy, seul self going to do that? BOAT CRUISE! And it was perfect.

I booked my trip here and selected Tour 1. The day tour to the Rhine Valley included an English speaking guide, a bus ride, (5 euro sur-charge to be dropped off at your hotel at trips end) a 2 hour Rhine boat ride, lunch and wine tasting and all for just 81.00 euro per person. Our bus departed at 11:15, and drove us along the no-speed limit Autoban for about an hour until we reached the village of Rudesheim.

Rudesheim cable lift

From there, we descended the mountain top by cable car (5 euro extra) until reaching the village below where we ate lunch at the plum coloured and artificially decorated restaurant “Zum Anker.” Everyone had the choice between a chicken or vegetarian entree that included french fries and a type of cole slaw. I wished I opted for the chicken because my vegetarian pancake was…well…flat. I skipped out on the wine tasting event next door so that I had time to explore the bed & breakfast village of Rudesheim. I think I spent more time gawking at some of my tour group counterparts taking selfie videos of themselves standing next to everything and anything while imagining those images and videos being proudly displayed on every socially media platform available. Think of selfie sticks, video cameras and iphones capturing every single movement and self-sight. Oh gosh, it got to be really annoying. Maybe I was more annoyed because I was alone? Yeah. Pretty sure. I’m not a selfie picture and snap happy hog am I? Not even remotely close right? Anyways, I really took this opportunity for myself to admire the Germanic architecture and greenery surrounding me. Boy was I craving a really good German beer and more pictures. SMILE.

Our group met back at 2:15 and headed towards the Rhine river where we boarded our 3 tiered cruiser the Bingen-Rudesheimer. The steamer ship sped with perfect pace so that we could all visually enjoy (from afar) the Medieval castles, charming villages and vineyards and of course that deliciously tall glass of Maisels Weisse beer. My first!

There are so many castels to be seen along this part of the Rhein from Frankfurt, but as I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t very snap happy, nor was I equipped with my zoom lens so several photos and my picturesque memory will just have to do. Pictured below are some of my favorites from the tour I would definitely venture back again. Enjoy!