Traveling Through Wine Country

Sorry for the delay in posting, we've been traveling through wine country and haven't had much access to the internet. During our first day in Burgundy, we toured the entire stretch of vineyards in the region, and by the end of the day had tasted more than 26 wines at four different vineyards. Including the wine we drank with dinner and lunch, we drank about two bottles of wine per person. Both Gramma and Ellie didn't seem to have any trouble staying sober after the 26th wine, but even by the 15th wine I felt like I needed a few shots of RedBull to stay awake. Thankfully John didn't have to drive that day, as we had our own personal tour guide from the region to show us around.

Pictures for each day:

Day 1: We drove to Albi to visit a fortified church, and then to Millau to see the highest bridge/viaduct in the world,

Day 2: We drove through the Gorge du Tarn, then to Le Puy to see the church on top of the volcano, and then to Firminy to see Corbusier's modern church. We all agreed it was disappointing--the shape looked like an upside-down sinking ship, and the interior like freeway concrete. Amazingly it's reputed to become the 8th wonder of the modern world, so we think the 9th will have to be the overpass by the San Francisco airport.

Day 3: Visited a Rhone Valley vineyard, Guigal, which we enjoyed for the assembly line of bottles (video will be posted soon). From there we drove to Vienne to see the ruins of the old Roman city (pics of the Temple of Augustus and the theater).

Day 4: This would have been a beautiful drive and panoramic view along the mountains of the Rhone if not for the clouds and rain--the cloud cover was at 2,000 feet and we were up at 2,050.

Day 5: We drove to the old Roman city of Lyon--the cathedral with beautiful mosaics and the ruins of the old theater. Then we were off to the outskirts of Lyon to see the Henri Malartre Automobile Museum with the largest collection of classic French cars and motorcycles from the 1890's to the 1960's.

Day 6: The vineyards of Burgundy where John and I tried and failed to stay sober over the course of the day. But I'm happy to say that we now know a LOT about wines from Burgundy.

Tomorrow we're off to see another of Corbusier's modern architectural churches...I only hope it's better than his last one. After that we've still got the vineyards of Champagne to tour, so hopefully our massive tasting in Burgundy will have improved John and my tolerance for alcohol!