Planning and letting go in St. Emilion

**note I had to post 2 posts at once so go the one before and catch up***

So today Mr. Lush and I were discussing if we know of anyone else who would take this particular type of trip....the kicker is what was going on at the time of said conversation....

We were at the Saint Emilion train station, waiting for a taxi that might arrive/might not, depending on if he checked his email that day, while having another number as a backup. So basically, we were in town, but didn't know if we had a ride or exactly when we should give up on the ride, so we were hanging out at the train station letting time pass. The weather was beautiful and we decided to give our maybe taxi driver about 10 more minutes. During said wait, we started talking about who would take such a trip, with the combination of planning and yet okay with the unexpected....you have to do a lot of research to do the public transportation route, but really, public transportation and all the stuff that goes with is (as evidenced in previous posts) a bear and doesn't go as expected. As much as I like to pretend, I'm not really "totally okay" with the unexpected.....today we had an appointment at Chateau Pape Clement - their directions were poor, we got lost, missed our tour, and weren't given another one. I was devatstated.... feeling I had messed things up royally and had failed us. Mr. Lush, being the kind considerate man he is, assured me that I didn't mess anything up and it was the Chateau's fault for giving bad directions and HE didn't consider the day wasted at all.

Ah-yes, he is wonderful, isn't he???

I digress....after we chatted about this, I noticed a call. Low and behold, it was our B&B- Chateau Monlot. I called them back and was quickly transferred to someone who spoke ***PERFECT*** English. Oh, I was excited right off the bat, but even more excited when he (Philip) said he could come pick us up. (woo hoo saved money) I told him we are the only people sitting in the parking lot with luggage so we should be easy to find - he arrived within 10 minutes and we were at the Chateau within 15. It was great!!!

Evidently, Philip is from North Carolina and is here studying wine....and happens to be doing an internship at Chateau Monlot. Not only did he pick us up, he made us dinner, shared with us some wine - including some rose that couldn't be labeled because you can't make St. Emilion Rose- and has offered to take us on a few trips here and there if needed. He is great- absolutely great- and we really lucked out in the fact he is here, as we enjoy his company AND appreciate his knowledge! We suggested we should give him some money for eating all his food, drinking all his wine, but he said it "would be an insult".

So my question to you - what should we give Phillip? Bottle of wine- or would that be odd since he's here? Ignore what he says and slip him some money when we leave? Ask him to accompany us to dinner and buy his dinner?

And....would YOU be up for a trip that required planning, yet an acceptance of the spontaneous factor?

*heck, I'm don't know if I'm up for it...but we're here so I'm making it work!!!*

Adventures in traveling

After a late night at the Dublin pubs, we drug ourselves out of bed to start our day of traveling to France. We started off early and took the airport shuttle to the Dublin airport, only to find that our flight was delayed 45 minutes, so not only was getting there early was not really necessary, we were also tight on transfer time. Our flight was to arrive in Toulouse at 3:55 and our train was departing from Toulouse at 6:10, so that extra 45 minutes was our "cushion time". We arrived in Toulouse at 4:40 - close to an hour late, and of course our luggage was one of the last pieces off the airplane, as we checked in really early. Based on my extensive research of public transportation options, I knew there was a shuttle going from the airport to the train station, with about 4 stops along the way. I asked the driver if he spoke English, luckily he spoke enough to tell me that yes, this was this shuttle. It was 5:15 and we were on way. It would be tight, but we could make it.

Then, on the way to the train station, I heard a scraping as we passed a car …and indeed the shuttle driver had side swiped a mirror. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!??? As the shuttle pulls over to handle the accident, we instantly panic but then it seems like it's a not a big deal - the other passengers weren't upset, the driver wasn't upset, really the only person who thought it was a big deal was the girl who's car got swiped (understandably so). The whole ordeal only delayed us 5 minutes….so we got to the train station at 5:50. No idea where to go we just took off and figured it out, arriving at the train "gate" with a few minutes to spare…only to find out it was also running late. *sigh*

At least we weren't rushing, right?

The train arrives and we have no idea how to find our seats - we chose for this ride to be 1st class (there is 2nd class, 1st class, and Premier class) and we has assigned seats. Of course, the train station "attendant" doesn't speak English, but we think we figure it out, but then almost miss getting on the train because our car is the very first one and we were at the very last one. But, we made it - the train ride was nice - the seats were very comfy, the ride was smooth, all was ok. We arrive in Bordeaux St. Jean, fumble around and find the tram station, take the tram and viola, are about 2 blocks from the hotel. Whew!

We check in and then head to a restaurant for our first meal in France. We have a nice white Bordeaux with our entrees (which are really appetizer like); Mr. Lush had toasts with goat cheese salad and I had a pastry with smoked salmon and cheese. The wine went perfect with it. We figured the portions would be small so we also ordered a Plat (the entrée); Mr. Lush had steak and I had the duck. *Both came with French fries* We were actually incorrect - both were actually quite large, so we were stuffed. With dinner, we had an even nicer red Bordeaux. (the wireless connection sucks at the hotel, so no pics) We lucked out and our server spoke English, although he wasn't around much after our food was ordered, at least he was there when it counted (during ordering and available for questions). All in all, it was a crazy hectic day, but we were happy we managed to get around and figure things out thanks to some pre-planning on my part and some patience on both our parts.

We are looking forward to our first full day in wine country.

Dublin, Day 1

Upon arriving at Drury Court Hotel (no relation to the Drury we know in the US) we were allowed to checkin early (which we ended up switching rooms - bit of a modly smell in the hallway of our original room- 2nd room was very nice). We took a baby powernap and then went a walkin to Guinness Storehouse, where our free tour pases awaited(Courtesy of Bill, the BEST Scotchguy ever).
On our way, we saw some sites.....

Dublin Castle:

Christ Church....

We stopped at a random pub (after getting a bit lost- details on Dublin's streets later) to have our first Authentic Guinness in Dublin. True to tradition, the bartended poured 2/3 of the pint, let it sit for 5 minutes, then filled the rest and we took our part in tradition and waited until everything had settled. It was yummy - although I will admit that I am not quite the fan that Mr. Lush is.

With our Guinness we had some soup and potato pancakes, a sample of a local made just for that pub beer, and went on our way.

The Guinness Tour.......

was not that impressive. Our passes were FREE and we were dissapointed - actual price is 15Euros. The tour is through a 7 story storehouse, with screens and pictures and its SELF GUIDED. No actual production facilities - video screens try to simulate production, but its not very effective. Of course, we compared the tour to that of AB(InBev) but it didn't even compare to Boulevard in Kansas City. It was overall anticlimatic. The Gravity Bar at the top, does have a lovely view, but the immediate surroundings are rather industrial and bleak so its not even that great. They didn't even bother painting the Guinness Production facilities with any zest or beauty - just bleh.

All that being said.....it was a nice time and more of piece of a nostalgia for Mr. Lush, as he is quite the Guinness Lover. A good tour of the website and a nice pint of Guinness at a local pub will do just fine - otherwise your love for Guinness must make it The Graceland of Beer.

It was sprinkling so we took a cab back to the hotel - it was a good 2 mile walk - we went back and took a nap, went to a local pub for some non-local fare (Penne Carbonara and a Ceasar salad), a Smithwicks and a Bulmers (which ended up being a hard cider - a good one, just not what I was in the mood for). We then hit a local brewery, called Porterhouse, who's beer menu is both fun and informative (we brought one back....shhhh), had a couple half pints and then headed back the hotel.....for some blogging before bedtime.

Note about Dublin streets - hard to navigate - signs are not consistently at the same place. Makes for long walks and I can only imagine how frustrating it would be driving on the wrong side of teh road not knowing if you should turn or not. Also, it was like 10:30 before it was dark and most pubs closed a midnight! Huh????

Yawn...having some tea now...unwinding.....it was a long day. See you tomorrow.