Chateau De Cruix, Beaujolais Wine Region

  Lyon, France
Thursday, July 24, 2008

french counryside, view from my window

Wine tasting

After leaving Paris, we set sail for a slower paced stop- we stayed at the Chateau De Cruix in the Beaujolais wine region, near Lyon. We had a day and a half to relax by the poolside and view the French countryside. We got to taste the wines made by the owners of the chateau (as well as purchase some to bring home to our families). We also tried their "Eau de Vie," or Water of Life (soon to be outlawed in France because of the high alcohol content) that is made by fermenting all of the grape skins/branch pieces that are scraped out of the bottom of the vats after all the wine has been pressed out. It was... well... interesting.

walk to the top of the world

Top of the World

French houses...

 On our second day there, we were given a hand-written map and told to navigate through the countryside and vineyards to the 'Top of the World', where we were told the view would be amazing. After being instructed to find a dog that would lead the way (and with baguette-basket in hand) we started our trek. Sure enough, about twenty minutes up the road a little dog came running out of a French-style home and began to run up the path ahead of us. Finding our map utterly useless, we decided to follow the dog- which we assumed would lead to us getting helplessly lost. The dog would run ahead of us up the road along the vineyards and then turn and wait for us to catch up. After about an hour's hike up the hill and through the countryside, we were lead up to the 'Top of the World,' where we enjoyed a wonderful view (and a picnic of baguettes, brie, and fruit). and yes, the dog was with us the whole time, and even followed us back to the Chateau afterwards, where all of us, sweaty and tired, enjoyed laying by (and in) the cold pool.