Loire Valley Getaway

A week ago, we had yet another public holiday here in France and since it was on a Thursday, we got that Friday off as a ‘bridge day’.  This means we had a four day weekend and being that we had just celebrated our 7th anniversary earlier in the week, it felt like the perfect time for a little getaway.  We had recently gotten home from the US and since we hadn’t planned anything yet, we didn’t want to go too far.  We had talked about wanting to explore another one of France’s wine regions, the Loire Valley, and since it’s about a 2.5 hour drive away from Paris, that seemed like the perfect place.  The Loire Valley is also known for its chateaus, or castles, so I thought it would be fun to have us stay in an actual chateau.  I found the Chateau des Briottieres near the small town of Champigne which looked perfect and still had availability.  So it was planned.  We would head to Loire Valley after work on Wednesday and stay there two nights, coming back to Paris on Friday evening where we could still enjoy our weekend at home.  

Since the Loire Valley is so close to Paris, and since we would need a car anyways once we got there, it didn’t really make sense to take a train and then rent a car.  So being that Nate is adventurous, we rented a car out of Paris and drove the entire way.  It was a bit nerve wracking to think of driving even just a little bit in Paris but again, Nate was adventurous and employed his “It’ll be fine” mentality.  And besides a little hairy moment trying to get to the Peripherique Rd (the freeway that runs around the city of Paris), it was fine!  So off we were!  

Chateau des Briottieres

The Chateau des Briottieres was indeed beautiful and completely out in the middle of nowhere.  A nice getaway from the city!  That following day after we arrived was the French holiday so many wineries were closed.  However we headed the short 30 minute drive into the town Angers and went to the Maison du Vin.  Here Nate did a tasting of wines across the entire Loire Valley region and we got a book and a map of local wineries, which ended up being handy for the next day.  It was a good stop and with wines being only 6-10 EUR a bottle, we walked out of there with a case.  Not too bad!  

Loire Valley as we learned is mostly known for their whites and roses and from what I could smell, and from what Nate confirmed, there indeed were some great ones.  I must say, I look forward to December when I can fully enjoy our findings from this region.

We enjoyed lunch in Angers and then headed back to the chateau to enjoy an afternoon by the pool.  A perfectly relaxing day....just what we wanted.  The chateau also has an option for you to dine there for dinner, which we did as that meant we didn’t have to drive anywhere and could fully enjoy the chateau.  We enjoyed an aperitif outside before dinner and took in the beauty and calmness around us and then had a wonderful meal.  After dinner we sat outside and enjoyed being able to actually see stars.  In some ways I felt like we were camping with that feeling of being in the middle of nowhere enjoying the great outdoors.  It was a nice change.

The next day we decided to take our time heading back to Paris so we could visit a few wineries and a few castles and get a good flavor of the Loire Valley.  Our first stop was the Chateau d’Usse.  It was maybe an hour drive and located in this small, unknown town.  You could see the castle as soon as you drove up the road and it was quite beautiful.  Apparently legend has it that a famous French writer who stayed at this castle was so inspired by it that he wrote Sleeping Beauty based off of it.  It did remind me of a fairytale.  It was a beautiful castle with expansive and well kept gardens.  You could walk through part of the castle and see some of the rooms inside however I thought the outside was the most impressive.  

Apparently there are 42 chateaus in the Loire Valley and being that we planned this trip so last minute, we didn’t have a ton of time for lots of research.  So I found an article online from CNN that highlighted the best 5, and that’s how we chose where to go.  Chateau d’Usse was definitely one of the good ones!

Chateau d'Usse

Outside at the Chateau de la Grille winery

After having lunch in the town near the castle we were back in the car and off again.  This time to a winery not too far away.  Referencing our trusty little book of wineries and map that we got the previous day from Maison du Vin, we randomly picked one that wasn’t far from where we were.  We went to Chateau de la Grille in the Chinon region of the Loire Valley which turned out to be yet another great find.  We stopped in, the lady in the tasting room was extremely friendly and proceeded to pour wine for Nate and tell us all about the history of the winery, the region and the wines.  The wines here were quite good from what Nate said (and again, at 6-10 EUR a bottle you can’t beat the price).  So again we walked away with another half case.  The beauty of renting a car out of Paris is that you can much more easily transport wine back home and we were definitely going to take advantage of that. 

We were now off to our second, and last, castle of the day.  This time we chose Chateau de Chenonceau.  Pulling up to this castle was a much different experience from Chateau d’Usse.  It was much bigger (the grounds itself, parking lot, etc.), there were a ton of people and overall it just felt more touristy.  We proceeded to check it out though and bought our entrance ticket.  The grounds were definitely much larger than Chateau d’Usse but the castle itself appeared to be smaller.  And there were a ton of people everywhere.  We went inside and tried to see the rooms but did I mention there were crowds of people there?  We walked through a good portion of it and we probably would have enjoyed it more if it was less crowded (I guess we should have expected that being that it’s August) but we were over it and so said au revoir to that castle.  I’m glad we went and this way we can compare the two but we were done with castles for the day.

Chateau Chenonceau

There was a winery not too far from this castle so we figured one more wine tasting before we headed back to Paris.  We chose Les Pierres d’Aurele which was smaller and less commercial than the one previous and in the Touraine Chenonceaux region of the Loire.  It is owned by this younger couple who bought and took it over just 4 years ago.  We sat down in what essentially looked like an extension of their home and she proceeded to tell us all about the place and the wines they make while pouring a tasting for Nate.  Again, Nate found that the wines were quite good for the value so we bought a few more bottles and we were on our way.  

We were headed back to Paris and now had to make a stop at our apartment first before returning the car since we had so much wine.  Luckily our place isn’t too far from Gare de Lyon where we were returning the car and after just one or two stressful moments, we made it to our house to drop everything off before Nate returned the car.  Driving in Paris...what an adventure!  

Overall it was a perfect little getaway.  I really enjoyed having the freedom of a car and just going wherever we felt.  I think we’ll have to explore doing that more often.  And the more we learn where we need to go in and out of Paris, the easier I’m sure driving will be too!

Happy Anniversary Nate!!!  Here’s to many more adventurous and fun filled years! Love you!!

CA and Summer in Europe

Long planned and long anticipated was a decidedly non-European travel adventure.  This one back home to California for a quick fun and food filled trip.  The planning started about a year ago with the main event being the 70th birthday of one Mr. Dennis Kliewer, a.k.a. the Prince of Paso Robles, a.k.a. Cleaver's dad.  Of course along the way in the past year the oldest daughter of the Prince of Paso has become "with child" and thus a second exciting event was planned for this trip home which would be of course a family baby shower for Cleaver.

With only 5 nights at home, time would be of the essence.  A direct flight from Paris to San Francisco put us on the ground in California at about 1:00 pm local time.  Get our bags, get our rental car and hit 101 toward the East Bay.  We then very quickly got a not so friendly reminder of one of the few down sides of the Bay Area - traffic.  So after about an hour and half we finally arrived in Walnut Creek for a quick hello at Grandma's house with my Mom and Dad as well before moving on to chez Aaron and Kristine who were nice enough to host a BBQ at their house with a group of our friends.  Having come home from the hospital only two days earlier was the newest member of their family little Trevor.   Fun BBQ evening and so great to see our friends for a normal level of debauchery for this crowd.

Next morning moving on because a. time is tight and b. Firestone.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Then the family fun in San Miguel begins.  With most of the family starting to arrive we enjoyed the first of three nights of sitting, eating, drinking a few beers and enjoying the country side.

I can't really comment much on the actual baby shower on Friday as I along with all the other guys wisely departed for a beer pong game.  But from the looks of it the ladies had fun with lots of lovely generous gifts given to us in anticipation of our new arrival.  Only question was how to get everything home to Paris which actually ended up being not so bad.  A few things will have to wait until the Kliewer's come in December but fortunately most of it fit in our luggage this trip.

Next day was the big party for the birthday boy!  An all day marathon of BBQ, beer, cornhole, beer pong, cake, music, laughs, and even a giant water slide.  Everything you would expect from a Kliewer family function.  The weather could not have been better and just an all around enjoyable day.  Happy Birthday Dennis!

The Birthday Boy!

After that big day, the next morning was the unfortunate time to head home.  After saying our good bye's, we were back in the car and on our way to SFO.  One stop though - Taco Bell.  Miss that place.  Made our flight and back in Paris we land the following morning.

Ross family enjoying the party!

Normally landing on Monday, returning to work on Tuesday with the jet lag and all is a bit of a challenge.  However this is August in Europe which means summer holiday.  July is much the same.  I had heard about summer in Europe but I don't think you can fully understand it without actually being here.  Work for the most part comes to a slow moving pace, not shut down, but a very slow pace which is actually quite nice.  Most people will take 2 - 4, maybe 5 weeks vacation depending on the country.  Gone.  I have received out of office replies with a 4 week time span listed.  August is the big holiday month in France and in my office of maybe 20 people, there were I think 6 the day I returned from California.  So fighting the jet lag is not as hard when you can come in a bit late, leave a bit early and don't have the normal 5,000 things to do.

Closed until August 26

Paris also comes to a slow halt with many places, restaurants, stores and shops posting signs saying something to the effect of happy vacation, we're closed until the end of August.  The city feels empty with all the closures and only tourists running around.  The summer slow down is nice and something I'll miss whenever the time comes to return home.

To summarize the action items: 1. great trip home.  2. Always great to see friends and family.  3. Lots of great food and drink. 4. Summer in Europe is great.  With that said à bientôt!