Champagne, France

This past weekend Dan and I visited the Champagne wine region of France with a group of friends. We got up bright and early Saturday morning and drove four hours to Épernay, the principal entrepôt (or trading post) for Champagne wines. After getting slightly lost in the vineyards and along the narrow roads of the old town, we visited a small Champagne house called Gobillard. Gobillard has a very charming little tasting room where we sampled four of their best Champagnes. Dan and I are not big fans of Champagne but we could definitely tell that this was top quality bubbly.We then had lunch at a French restaurant nearby where we all ordered fancy (and delicious) three course meals. Our next stop was a much larger Champagne house, Mercier. Mercier has the world’s biggest Champagne cask on display (it holds the equivalent of 200,000 bottles!), was founded in 1858, and is the number one selling brand of Champagne in France. We took a train ride 30 meters underground through the Mercier cellars while our tour guide told us all about the history of the company and the making of Champagne. That was followed by another tasting!We really enjoyed seeing where Champagne is made and learning a little more about this sparkling wine. I was shocked to learn that two of the three grapes that Champange is made from are red!

The Howard’s Visit

The Howard family stopped by to see us after their Zermatt ski trip.  We had a very nice relaxing weekend and showed them some of the sights around Hessen.  We took them to the market for lunch and some fresh fruit and German cheese. 

For dinner we took them to our favorite German restaurant in Mainz.  A great time was had by all.

Beer/Chocolate Run

Marissa and I decided to make a mid-week beer/chocolate run to Belgium.  The monks of Saint-Sixtus make a beer called Westvleteren 12 that is in such high demand that you have to call during certain hours on certain days to reserve some for pick-up.  We were lucky enough to get through on their beer-phone and made a reservation for Wednesday.  We left work a little early on Tuesday and stayed the night in Brussels so that we could stock up on some of the world’s best chocolate.  Marissa was in heaven as she picked out 500 grams of pralines from both Leonidas and Neuhaus (two of the top chocolatiers in the country).  She’s on a mission to figure out which is best! 

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We also checked out Delirium Café (in the Guinness Book of Records for having over 2000 beers).  Wednesday morning we headed to the middle of nowhere Belgium to a beer warehouse that some people at work told us about.  We picked up four cases of various beers and some fancy beer glasses.  After that it was time to head to the monastery to await our beer reservation.  We had some time to kill so we had a few drinks at the Westvleteren Café (the only restaurant/bar in the world that serves this beer) while we were waiting.  Then at 14:15 it was finally time, so we drove our car over to the gate and got in line.  Ten minutes later we had the beer (two more cases!) loaded in our trunk, and we were headed back to Germany.

Skiing in Chamonix, France

In early March, Dan and I headed to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (the site of the first winter Olympics) with our friends Alicesara and Brandon to do some end-of-winter skiing and snowboarding.  Chamonix is located in the French Alps near the point where the French, Swiss, and Italian borders come together, and Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the European Alps.  The town of Chamonix is very cute, with lots of restaurants and shops lining the pedestrian area, and the mountains are pretty amazing (especially during a sunset!).

During our trip, I learned that blue runs are still too steep and scary for me but I got some great instruction on the bunny hill from the Lesters.  Dan did some off piste snowboarding, Alicesara showed off her impressive skiing skills, and Brandon got a lot more comfortable on the slopes.  We all ate lots of crepes, sampled some Swiss fondue and French wine, and had an awesome time together!

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Skiing in Austria

Dan and I headed down to St. Veit, Austria, with a bunch of friends recently to experience skiing in the Alps.  I took two days of ski lessons with Drew and Sandie and pretty much perfected the snow plow.  We learned basics like turning, how to effectively use hand warmers (you can't forget to shake them!), and how not to run into other skiers.  Dan, on the other hand, snowboarded his way down the steepest, toughest terrain he could find.  The mountains were breathtaking, and both days we were lucky enough to have plenty of fresh powder to play in. At the end of each day all eighty of us met up for dinner and partied the night away at the Rustica bar, playing traditional Austrian games like "milk the cow" and trying to ignore our sore, aching muscles.

We are awfully lucky to be so close to so many of the world’s top ski resorts, and we plan on taking advantage of as many as we can in the next few years!

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New Year’s Eve!

What could be better on New Year’s Eve than a fondue party?? Not much!  Kim and John had a bunch of friends over to ring in the New Year with a ton of great food and plenty of champagne.  We started off with Raclette, a make-it-yourself dish from Switzerland that involves dried meats, pickles, mushrooms, potatoes and Raclette cheese, and an electric table-top grill that heats everything up into one delicious gooey mess.  Next we moved on to salad, chicken, shrimp and veggies, then cheese fondue with all of the fixings and finally my favorite – chocolate fondue!!  I’m still drooling over Alicesara’s pound cake and those chocolate covered bananas.

After we stuffed ourselves silly we headed downtown to the Kurhaus to see the fireworks display.  As it turns out, Germans are crazy about their fireworks (as were our friends, who bought some of their own).  Brandon described the scene around the casino best when he said it felt like a war zone.  That it did!  Everywhere you turned people were setting off fireworks, with no thought to where they were shooting them or who they might hit.  It was crazy and a little scary.  But it was beautiful and you could definitely feel the celebration in the air.  At midnight Wiesbaden had a fireworks display of its own. It was also pretty magnificent.

Below are some pictures from the party and a video taken by our friend, Sandie. These are not the city’s fireworks – they were set off by lots of random people (all at the same time!).

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all a fabulous 2010!

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Christmas trip to the States

After almost seven months of living in Germany, I was having major cravings for Panera and desperately needed a trip to Target.  More importantly, Dan and I really missed family and friends!   Our week-long trip home for the holidays couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.  Our flight to Toronto was interesting (we were put on standby because of a “snow storm” in Germany the day before, barely made it through security in time to board, and then spent 2 1/2 hours sitting on the runway because of a medical emergency) but eventually we made it!
We had a great time visiting with family and friends in both Buffalo and Erie and made sure to soak up all of the things we love about home while we were there.  Christmas is such a special time of year, and we’re so glad we got to spend it with the people we love the most.

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