TOUR DE VIN

Since moving to San Francisco, I've discovered a profound love of wine (something I somehow missed out on while living in France) and I've been dying to get back there and go tasting ever since. So, we made it a point to set aside a day trip to the small town of St. Emilion on this vacation. Perched on the hill and surrounded by vineyards, the village is absolutely picturesque. Many of the buildings are even carved out of the limestone hill, contributing to its UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

There were only 2 trains leaving from Bordeaux in the morning, one at 7am and one at 10:30. We wanted to make the most of our day, so we opted for the earlier train. Inevitably we missed the tram from the house and ended up walking/running 45 min. to the train station. It honestly felt like an episode of The Amazing Race. My friend Vanessa was softly humming the Speed theme music as we jogged through the deserted streets. We managed to hop on the train with moments to spare. I should have expected as much, it seems to be a common theme in my European travels, but at least it makes for a more interesting story in the end...

We arrived in St. Emilion at the "crack of dawn" (as my family loves to say). There wasn't a soul in sight, but the light across the vineyards was breathtaking- well worth our early morning exercise. We wandered the village, checking out the deserted alleys, the cathedral cloisters, etc. until the tourist office finally opened at 10:30. There, we were able to rent bikes and embark on our self-guided tour. We tried using the maps they provided for about 5 minutes, but with directions like, "turn left at the mail box, go down past the row of trees and then right when you see the rose bush", we obviously didn't make it very far.

Unfortunately, every winery we stopped at was closed- because it was the weekend, because they were at lunch, because they wanted to take a nap...there were a million reasons. The French just aren't very concerned with making money. We did finally find a couple places that let us taste. Fortunately for us, we stumbled into one of the Premiere Grand Cru vineyards (that means the best of the best) and got a full tour of their facilities after which they almost convinced me to drop 60 euros on a bottle of wine. It was sooooo good! It should peak in about 20-25 years- what a lesson in patience!

Despite the fact that we were unable to drink copious amounts of wine like we'd intended, the day turned out to be amazing. The bikes were a perfect way to see the countryside, the weather was beautiful, and we capped it all off with a nice nap in the park.

COUCHSURFING THROUGH BORDEAUX

Am I the last person under 30 to have discovered couchsurfing.org? It certainly feels that way. Recently, a friend of mine told me he was hosting some couchsurfers and after seeing my confused look, he explained how it works. It's an online network made up of thousands of travelers who offer up their home as a free place to stay for those passing through and vice versa, they are hosted by fellow members when they go on vacation. What a great idea! Somewhat scary, I'll admit, since you can only trust about 50% of what people write on the Internet, but if the person is who they say they are, and they're genuinely interested in getting to know people from other cultures, what better way to accomplish it?

Much to my grandparents horror, I'm sure, my friend Vanessa and I decided to give it a try on our trip to France. To our delight, Phillipe offered to host us in Bordeaux. We were a little nervous that he might not show up or worse yet, he might turn out to be some kind of crazy serial killer, but the process was incredibly smooth. He was such a gentleman! He got us settled and then spent quite some time helping us figure out the rest of our open ended itinerary. It was thanks to him that we ended up in St. Jean-de-Luz, which was probably the highlight of the trip for me. What a great deal- a free place to stay, good advice from a local on what to see and do, great conversation about all the trips we've taken and we want to take...

He's hosted at least 45 people and couchsurfed himself in many different countries, but despite repeated questioning from us about the horror stories he must have inevitably experienced, he really didn't have a bad story to tell. Our experience honestly gave me a whole new level of confidence in humanity. Alright, that sounds a little extreme, but in the words of a fellow travel blogger, "in the moment I was truly overwhelmed by the efficacy of the couchsurfing project and overjoyed that such sharing between strangers even exists in today’s world." Not that you shouldn't exercise caution when using it, read the reviews about people before accepting offers, etc., but perhaps the vast majority of participants out there, really are good at heart and genuinely looking to help out fellow lovers of travel.