Music Monday: The New Pornographers–The Champions of Red Wine

On the next Music Monday..

Walkabout 2014 Day 12: Chalons?

I’m not entirely sure why we went to Chalons, sorry JT.  But we did have a nice meal in a mostly desolate town.  And there were some nice cathedrals. 

That’s it for Walkabout 2014.  If you play your cards right, you’ll enjoy some of the champagne I’ve muled back to the States.

Walkabout 2014 Day 11: Hooterville!!

Ok, it wasn’t really Hooterville.

Houses Visited

• Alain Suisse – Easily my favorite champagne. Alain is so nice.  He does not speak any English and we communicated via the greatness of Google Translate.
• Phillipe Martin – Wow do they overprice their champagne.  I don’t care how nice his daughter’s ass looks in her yoga pants, 25€ for an inferior champagne compared to Alain Suisse was just crazy.  MEH.

Walkabout 2014 Day 10: Boozie in Bouzy

Today was to hot (yes actually hot) and hilly for biking.  Plus my taint had taken quite a beating from my bike seat the day before.  So we drove to Bouzy and visited a couple of houses.  And then ended up again in Épernay for a bit of a champagne bar crawl.

Champagne Houses Visited

• Alfred Tritant – another tiny family champagne house. Only the wife speaks English.  Very good.
• Jean Vesselle – Another great find.  Very nice champagnes.  And if you visit soon, a friendly English girl, Flo, will perform your dégustation.

 

Bar Crawl

• C.Comme – the better of the two champagne bars on this block.  They were remodeling this year, so the selection wasn’t as broad as last year.
• La Cave à Champagnehttp://www.la-cave-a-champagne.com/ – one of my favorite restaurants in the world.  And yes a lot of that has to do with where it is and all the champagne I’ve consumed that day.  Also some of the best pâte foie gras I’ve ever had.
• La Fine Bulle – An ok champagne bar that only gets our business because the C.Comme closes early.

Walkabout 2014 Day 9: Reims and Biking

For those wondering, day 8 was spent traveling from Berlin to the ‘dorf and then from the ‘dorf to Reims.  So, not much worth taking pictures.

On to Day 9.  We headed out from the hotel on bicycle to Mailly, then Chigny and finally Rilly.

 

Champagne Houses Visited

• Charles de Cazanove – Near our hotel in Reims.  It was ok.  A good way to start the day.
• Christian Muller – Friendly with some very nice champagnes.  The better choice of the two houses across from each other in Mailly.
• Mailly Grand Cru – Another Ok champagne.  The tasting room was so quiet you could hear a cork drop.  Go to Muller across the street for better experience and wine.
• Pascal Mazet – The major find of the day.  Family run house.  So friendly and spoke virtually no English.  Excellent champagne.  But they only make 16,000 bottles a year.
• Michel Fagot – With Alain Suisse, the pinnacle of craft Champagne.  So far.

Walkabout 2014 Day 7: Berlin Day Trip

When a friend is a mere four hour train ride away in a foreign country, what else is a person to do but take that train to Berlin for a day trip.  My only regret, I forgot to eat a jelly donut there.

And a great day it was.  We got to see a lot of history and drink a lot of beer.  And, according to the app on my phone, I walked a record 28000 steps.  So I have that going for me.  Which is nice.

I love working downtown.

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Walkabout 2014 Days 5 & 6

One final beer at the beer fest and then it was back to the dorf for laundry and schnitzel.

Walkabout 2014 Day 4: Belgian Beer Fest Part Deux

It’s not just all beer guzzling at the Belgian Beer fest.  Brussels is a city of many museums, so we headed to the Museum of the Old Masters and played around of Spot the Bottom.  Those masters sure did love them some bottoms.

Afterwards it was a quick lunch at Mer du Nord, more beer at the fest, a great dinner featuring the best fries I’ve ever had and then a small pub crawl ending at a bar whose name I wish I remembered.  It was a tiny little bar run by a friendly family.

Walkabout 2014 Day 3: Belgian Beer fest Part Un

Brussels, the New Orleans of Europe – a little bit French and a lotta bit stanky.  This is truly the greatest beer fest in the world.  Not only is there a wide variety of the best beers in the world, but it’s in a picturesque setting.  Hopefully my pictures convey the esqueness.

After the fest, we were off for some hand pulled Chinese noodles.  The first time I had them three years ago, I hadn’t eaten in over a day.  I feared that my perceived awesomeness of the noodles was an artifact of my hunger.  For purely scientific purposes, I subjected myself to the same noodles with duck.  My findings were that they are truly awesome.

After dinner, more beer of course.

Walkabout 2014 Day 2: Walkin’ About Düsseldorf

With nothing much to do on the second day, I took a long walk around the dorf and finished the day with fine meats and cheeses and wines.

Walkabout 2014 Day 1: Düsseldorf Altstadt

Walkabout failure #1:  Taking loads of pictures during your Walkabout but having no means of moving those pictures from you camera to a computer to post those pictures.  My personal computer has a card reader, but my work computer does not.  I chose poorly by bringing my work computer.

It’s day number one in the ‘dorf so there is one thing and one thing only to do – head to the Altstadt and eat a pork sandwich at Schweine Janes.  This was a very special day in Düsseldorf as it was hosting the World Cup Champion German National Team’s friendly match against Argentina.

Typical weekend haul from Champagne. #Walkabout2014

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And so it begins. #Walkabout2014

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