Jessica, Wine and Trains...plus 2 years of marriage!

Hi Everyone

Actually this is jessica typing since Yehuda is at work and i am here all alone filling time until he gets home. ACtually it is quite nice, sleeping in, Yehuda bringing me fresh breakfast....but oh im getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.

So my plane ride was GREAT! I love first class, it is everything like the movies says it should be, hot towels and great food! Anyways, my plane arrived a little late but that is ok because Yehudas train was late as well so we met each other with perfect timing. We kissed and hugged and headed out to catch our train to Bordeaux. We ate lunch at this very cute restaurant by the train station. The waiter laughed at me because i ordered two appetizers for lunch instead of an app and an entre, but I told him im canadian and we are weird like that! either way the food was great. We then headed to our train and were off.

Once arriving in Bordeaux, we left the train station with no map and no real idea where to go, but, adventurous as we are we looked on a big map and started walking. About an hour and a half later, asking for directions only twice!, we got to our hotel. It was a nice place with a small room, reminded me of a dorm room with only the essentials, but it was perfect. After showering off all the stinky travel smell, we headed out to walk more and eat dinner. We ate at a nice place with morrocan food, huge portions and pretty tasty. Then being sooo tired we went back to the hotel to sleep.

THe next day, we woke up around 1030! soooo nice! then headed out to explore bordeaux. We ate a baguette in a park for breakfast and just walked all day, seeing the beautiful sights. There was a christmas fair going on with lots of little stands selling nice things. Yehuda bought some foie gras (duck liver...i tried it, it was good! :S) and some other pates. Then we went to the tourist office to find out about any tours to vineyards. After talking with the people there, we decided to rent a car, (yes, RENT a car!!) and do it our selves the next day. We we went to the trainstation, booked a car and books some tours at some chateaux (old vineyards are called chateaux, and the buildings they are in look like old houses and castles too). THe rest of the day was spent walking along the water, in and out of the old streets of bordeaux, eating dinner then heading home to bed. p.s. yehuda ate tartare, RAW meet mixed with veggies and spices...SOOO GROSS but we likes it. Who would have thought that mr. welldone steak would be eating raw beef!

Wow, ok so the next day we picked up the car and headed out to St. Emilion, a medievel village surrounded by vineyards....oooo and the car we got...A SMART CAR!! soo cute but they forgot to add the back to it! just joking, there is no back! It was quite interesting to drive. Without getting lost, we made it to our first vineyward, a pretty big one. We went on a tour, saw how they store the wine underground in limestone caves, and then had a tasting. Too bad for me because the area is a red wine area, but we tried it and Yehuda bought a bottle. Then we went into the old city of St. Emilion to walk around, have lunch and go to another chateau. This one was a small family run business. They live and work all in the same place. The guy was super nice and explained a lot. He had so much passion. Their seller was soooo cool, also underground, and they even had wine from the 1960s that they made. His great grandfather made wine, so it has been in the family a LONG time. We tasted their wines, also really good and bought a half bottle, because their wines are a little pricier. Then we headed on a tour of the underground parts of the city, seeing a monks house, catacombs and a church. Pretty cool to see except the tour was in french, but we had an English paper explaining it all anyways. Then we headed for Planet Bordeaux, a kind of museum about the region with lower grade wines to taste and buy. It was very interesting and very high tech, with movies and lights and stuff. We then drove back to bordeaux for dinner, and we were so tired we went back home to bed.

OK almost all caught up, we sure did a lot! ok to the next day we transisted back to Lyon. We returned the car, (aww good buy smart car! ) and headed to the train station,. Our first train left at 12. Then when it was time to transfer, our new train was late an hour, but only ended up being late by 20 mins. We arrived in Lyon at 8:30 I think, so 8 hours on a train..ugh! but we made it. Then Yehuda took me to his place, very cute for sure! we showered, got dressed and headed out for our romantic dinner for our 2 year anniversary!! We went to a resaurant that is owned by the same person who ownes where Yehuda works, called Leon de Lyon. It was a 2 star michelin restaurent. It was DELICIOUS! we went all out and had a 4 course meal, including of course a cheese course for Yehuda! The cheese he got was a very specail cheese that he loves, but to me tasted like stinky feet! Anyways, dinner was DELICIOUS! Very simple but yummy. Then Yehuda showed me where he works, and I met a few people there (most were gone because it was almost midnight by this point). We then did his daily walk home, such a lovely walk, then went to bed.

This morning, as I said in the beginning, Yehuda left for work but not before picking me up some fresh pastries for breakfast for our anniversary! so sweet. I am relaxing at home, waiting for him to come home from work for his break, then I will walk him back to work and explore a little bit more of Lyon myself and again see things tomorow.

It is so nice being together, thanks to all who made that possible. OK, I will blog again soon. Miss you all!
From Jessica and Yehuda