So here we are, the day we drank wine from sunrise to sundown:

We started the trip in Dijon, took the highway all the way down to Beaune, than we headed futher down towards Puligny-Montrachet. That was the southern-most point of our trip, that day. From there we went to Meursault, Volnay, Pommard, Nuits-Saint-Georges and from there straight home. We had one to many glasses of wine to tell the difference anymore.

Montrachet is one of the most expensive vineyards in France. It was featured in the first season of Oz and James Big Wine Adventure (ep. 4 or 5, I believe). Here we took part in a tasting of 4 white wines (after all, we were in white-wine land) and a rosé. We chose based on selling price of the bottle on the market. I have to admit that both myself and Jo tasted the difference between the cheap (13Euros / bottle) and the expensive one (72Euros / bottle), but in-between … there wasn`t such a big gap to justify the price. They were all very good, so from my point of view … i`d probably go for 50 bottles of the fist one.

Next tasting that we really enjoyed was at a Château de Meursault. Above ground is a museum, and underground it`s the wine cellar. They have the biggest wine cellar that I have ever seen. And because people actually buy their wine, the cellar only stores 2-3 year old wine. I admit, they have a few bottles left from `76-`06 … but no more than 30-40. And imagine that what you see in the pictures below is just half o the real thing, `cause they have their proprietary bottle shape that stacks “head to toe” so you actually see just the bottles facing inside, the ones facing the walls are hidden from the view.

The tasting here was good. 7 white wines 2005-2008 and we sensed some of the subtle differences between them. Price wise … the bottles were 25-90Euros.

We ended our wine tasting adventure at Château de Clos de Vougeot where we got a lesson about red wine … the hard way.

“Have you ever tried an aged bottle of wine”
“No”
“Are you looking for a bottle of wine to drink now … or later?”
“Now”
“Than you came here for nothing”
“…”
“Well, how will you know if what i`m serving you is good for you if you haven`t tasted an old wine”
“Well … that`s why we`re here , we want to learn as much as possible”
“Young man, what we sell here today is 16 month old wine that, for you, tastes like any other red wine. You have to KNOW how this wine will develop after 20 years, after 30 years, after 40 years.”
“Yeah, sounds plausible, now … show me the wine !”
(so she did – she put 3 bottles on the table)
“Try them, tell me what you think”
“The first one is ok, the second one is bitter … ”
(this is where she lost it a bit)
“You don`t say it`s bitter … you say, it has power! character!”
“Lady … it`s bitter, cut the crap!”
(she was actually right, out of the two of us, I was the farm boy …)
“Now tell me which one would you buy, and then i`ll tell you the prices”
(there was a huge difference between the first and the last so I chose the last, but then she struck me with the price)
“The one you chose is 90 euros / bottle, and you have to store it a minimum of 20 years in a cellar at 12*C and proper humidity before you open a bottle”
“And the other ones?”
“The middle one is 45E and the first is 23E/bottle, and these you can open after 15years … but 20years is better”
(we than talked about other stuff, but I realized why an old bottle of wine costs so much … it costs 90E/bottle now, store it for 20 years and 200-400% just because you`re a fancy restaurant … and there you go … 1000$ / bottle)

Overall, that day we had a blast. Good thing we had a driver to get us everywhere … well hydrated.

We arrived in Lyon 1h before sundown so we managed to get a map from the tourist info point, and went on foot north from Place Belecour towards the Opera, and then up and down on parallel streets in between these points.

All the people were photogenic and dressed really good. It was like Paris, minus the black people (no, i`m not racist … I call them how I see them).

The city is spread on two hills and is crossed by to streams of water. It`s magnificent.

On the Fourviere hill they built a cathedral: Notre-Dame de Fourviere, it`s the most beautiful cathedral I have seen to date, and the interior … breathtaking.

I`d love to tell you more about Lyon , but words could never match the city`s beauty.

The next day we headed back home (near Dijon). We were in for a surprize …

Tomorrow I`ll tell you about Bourgogne and the wine adventure. Don`t miss it, I have allot to blabber about!

The next day we hopped in the card for a 280km on the freeway towards Chamonix.
As expected, it rained allot. We were really hoping for good weather there. There`s no worst way of visiting Chamonix than on a rainy day. We had two of them!

The first day we took the special train that takes people to The Glacier (Mer de Glace). It was just like the iPad … magical. Mostly because when we got there, sun rays were protruding through the clouds just to make everything look good. I bet that on a clear day it`s way better, but we had to be grateful for what we had.

Mont Blanc was in the clouds so we decided to visit every street the small town has. We had lunch at a fancy restaurant (hey, might never know when we come back) and ended the day at a local pub, hoping for a better weather the next day. When we arrived at the hotel I tried some long-exposure shot from the balcony. At 5am , lacking sleep, I walked out on the balcony again for some more long-exposure shots. The day was looking grim.

At around 9am we decided to use our all-access passes to go across from Mont Blanc up in the clouds, with hope that if we`re that high, we`ll see the mountain top above the cloud blanket. That didn`t happen. The clouds were to thick and all we did was get wet and freeze.

We did a last effort to get to Auguille du Midi (tallest point to reach by gondola). 3842m. It`s the point from where we would have seen Mont Blanc if it weren`t for the pesky clouds. We froze our asses up there, and it snowed like crazy.

We did the smart thing and got the first ride down and left for Lyon.

Tomorrow I`ll tell you why I love Lyon.

Yes, I`ve done it! Here they are. Not so impressive now that I got a good look at them but, hey, as long as they`re done I might as well post them.

These are all resizes to fit 1200px on the long side (that means that you can click on them for a slightly bigger version).

You can leave comments using this link.

As I said a long time ago, this entry`s purpose is to shine some light on some of the lesser photos of my Portugal trip.

Out of ~900 pictures (not counting the panoramas and the HDRs) I chose to show you 25, but there were ~60-70 pictures selected to tell the story.

I can`t post the remaining 40+ pictures but I think you can handle 10 more. (actually 9 decent ones and a dud!)

Enjoy.

(P.S. I`m trying as hard as I can to make room in my schedule to stitch those panoramas I`m blabbering about so “keep your pants on”!)

And this is how we roll … when we`re outside the country.

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And, with almost 11 days overdue, I present to you the Netherlands entry.

We took the Thalys train from Paris with the destination: Rotterdam. “Lucky” for us, they were working on the railroads those days so we hopped of at Utrecht, then we took a train straight to Hague. `Cause that`s were Pinka and Srj are living now. You`ll see pictures of their neighborhood at the end. And yes … they live in a red MVRDV house.

In the 5 days remaining of our trip we visited Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft and Hague. (if I forgot something, just let me know)

Given the fact that I`m not in a “writing allot of stuff” mood I`ll let you enjoy the pictures.

Don`t be shy and write a few words yourself … and yes, you can send this link to other people. )

P.S. The song is Red House played by Jimi Hendrix. I wanted to put another song but I can`t really get a hold of it so this one is just as good. Mainly because we stayed at our friends in a red house in Hague and as a side reason: it`s 12 bar blues and Razvan is trying to get the hang of it right now. Bro, I could only wish I could play 10% of what is Jimi doing by the time you get it together, but you`re getting it wright faster than I can learn how to improv…

Cu acest entry inchei sirul de poze facute cu ocazia Bienalei de Arhitectura de la Venetia.

A fost foarte frumos. Abia astept sa revad expozitia peste 2 ani, sper, cu aceeasi oameni cu care am fost tura asta, pentru ca ne-am simtit tare bine.
Pana atunci sper sa invat sa cant la chitara si/sau mai bine la muzicuta, astfel incat autocarul sa fie si mai animat. Promit ca peste 2 ani voi avea un UWA dupa mine, ca tare i-am dus dorul…

Tip of the trip:

- pot sa recomand sa va luati dupa voi un singur obiectiv bun la toate; Nikon-ul are pus la bataie pentru un pret care pare mare dar care face toti banii, un Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VRII pe la ~21milioane

-daca totusi aveti impresia ca aberez in cele spuse mai sus, atunci puteti sa mai adaugati si un Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (intre 500-600$) sau un Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 (desi acesta din urma o sa va rupa mai intai buzunarul – 5000RON – si apoi gatul pentru ca are fix 1kg… in viu!)
-P.S.: la unul din astea de mai sus mai merge “asezonat” un Nikkor 135mm f/2 (~3700RON) sau un Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 (~3500RON) sigur v-ar oferi mai multe posibilitati de “distractie”.

-pe astea din urma le am si eu in wishlist, asa ca daca o sa se intample sa castigati la loto cu numerele 6 / 2/  17 / 19 / 23 / 46 , faceti o pomana si trimiteti unul din ele incoace.

O saptamana foarte aglomerata dar tot mi-am facut timp sa mai pun niste poze din excursie. Mai am o singura serie mica pregatita pentru maine si termin. Poate dup`aia ma incumet sa pun niste poze trase pe film. We shall see.

Pana una-alta, enjoy these ones!

• Burano

• Murano

• Venetia

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