20-06-2009 (Week 22-23) - Bordeaux et Paris

This week Becky and Chris came into town. After they arrived safely, we spent the next day heading out to the Bordeaux region. It was in St. Emilion where we embarked upon our wine tasting adventure. After trying to convince the nice young woman that worked at the information session to give us the inside edge on where to go taste wine, we sulked out with a map and 100s of wineries to choose from.

The first place we visited was the Clos de Menut winery. This was a nice visit because of their cellar. It was a massive cellar packed full of wines dating as far back at the 50s. And of course after touring their fine cave, we managed to sample a few wines there as well. After having a long french lunch we eventually made it to another winery called Chateaux ... This was a great experience for me because the person working there didn't know much english, so I had to put my French skills to the test. It turns out that I passed (At least I think), because I was able to relay most of the information he gave us to Becky and Chris. And it was a success for that Chateaux as well, as we walked out after having shipped 12 bottles back to the U.S.

After we left St. Emilion we made our way to Bourdeaux to try and scope out some dinner. Turns out we didn't have a whole lot of luck, but all in all, we still ruled the day a success. On a side note, on our way out of St. Emilion, we saw a Harley Davidson bike gang (at least 15) drive into St. Emilion on their Harleys. Must've been an interesting site for the people of that small French town...

The next few days while I worked Becky and Chris headed down to Barclona. Then later in the week, we headed up to Paris. I was lucky enough to have my company send me on a trip to see the Paris Air Show there. So I drug Becky and Chris along because I thought it would be nice for them to spend some time in the famous city as well.

I was preoccupied with the airshow while I was there, but I'm sure that didn't bother Becky and Chris as it gave them a chance to explore the city without an annoying little brother around. We did hang out several times though including Becky's first escargot tasting, a fine french restaurant recommended by Rick Steves (and I even made reservations over the phone), and the catacombs.

While Becky and I were separated, I got to see some more sites that I missed the first time I visited Paris. I got a chance to see the Sacre Coeur (famous church) and a Picasso Museum. The Picasso museum wasn't as interesting as I had imagined, because it was mostly his earlier work before he got all crazy, but it was still interesting.

And of course, I got to go to the world reknowned Paris Air Show. This is probably the greatest spectacle in my industry. It gives aircraft companies from around the world a chance to come together to schmooze each other and show off some of their latest equipment. It was filled with great planes, a great airshow, and tons of companies. The best part about it was that Spirit gave us the chance to go to their Chalet to watch the air show. This was a big deal to me, beacause they put us up in this posh room with free drinks right on the air strip with front row seats to the show. And afterwards, they even decided to serve us lunch.

All in all the trip was as success. Becky and Chris had a good time. And I also might add I was proud of my sister for her French knowledge and mastery of the metro system (which is quite grand). Becky and Chris left for Denver from Paris and I made my way back to Toulouse...