Saint Emilion, France

Today we made a trip to Saint Emilion - the oldest wine area of the Bordeaux region. Saint Emilion wines are considered the most robust of the Bordeaux. They are generous, very colored, and reach their maturity quicker than other red Bordeaux.

Pondering the meaning of life... in America


Cool setup! Alas, this would be a liability in America because everyone sues the shit out of everyone. (And apparently the French make fun of us for that)


Papi and me. He's so cool with his beret!


We ate lunch here:


Which consisted of:

• Rose wine

• Carpaccio


• Salmon tartar


• Escargot (Mami, a big foodie said this was horrible. Everyone else seemed to like it. This was my first time trying it. It's okay, but I prefer clams. The texture is like a mix of mussels and clams, a bit too "chalky" for me.)


• Crepe Forrestiere (mushrooms, cheese, tomato, lardons)


• Steak with fries


• Landaise salad - duck meat and gizzards (really good!)


• Cappuccino (they use real whipped cream instead of milk)


Keep in mind this is just average food here! Damn, average American food pales in comparison.



Saint Emilion is also known for their macaroons, which we had the pleasure to try. Delicious!


Uncle purchased a really great white bubbly wine for us, which we tasted at dinner time. I love this type of wine (I'm not a big champagne fan). It's like a dessert wine that is way less sweet with carbonation. Bonny Doon makes a good one too.

Happy family


After walking around for a bit, we decided to get some ice-cream. This is the best chocolate ice-cream Rafael and me have had.

La glace au chocolate avec de la crème chantilly, s’il vous plait!


We decided to take a tour of the underground church and catacombs.


They removed all the bones from the catacombs except for the skulls because tourists were stealing the bones. How gross is that?


After our visit here, we headed home only to prepare and do none other than eat again! After looking at cute Zoolander baby pictures of Rafael doing the blue steel, we had a satisfying meal of pepperoni, charcutre, pate, gratons, French pizza (which, I guess is closest to what real Italian pizza taste like), and pistachio ice-cream.

Did I mention that Uncle and family have the cutest whippet named Lazee (sp), as well as four cats that have free range to the house and their big yard? Apparently one of their cats hunts rabbits and brings them home, shows them to Uncle, then eats them. And Lazee likes to bark and beg for CHEESE! Even their animals are very French!

Lazee, who ended up falling asleep on my lap later in the evening.


Bordeaux and Blanquefort were awesome. It kind of reminded me of Saratoga, where I grew up as a child. Rafael's family are incredibly generous, kind, funny, and just loads of fun. And yes, French people really do say "Oh la la!" (or "Oh la la la la la la la la!") and "Voila!" a lot. I picked that up while I was there, and Rafael's family loved it. HAHA. We ended the night early around 11pm to rest up for our trip to Paris the next day.