Jen (the other American in the Marketing Department) mentioned a great wine tasting event in Paris to me a few months back that a friend of theirs attended last. We don’t need much of an excuse to go to Paris, so we all ventured to Paris for the weekend.
We took the Eurostar over and checked out it's fancy new home in the £800 million renovated St. Pancras Station, it had been departing from Waterloo, much to the French's chagrin! We started off the trip with a glass of champagne at the 'world's longest champagne bar' in the station prior to the 2 hour and fifteen minute trip. We checked into our hotel and headed out for a light dinner. They guy at the hotel Eiffel Seine (would not necessarily recommend the hotel...teeny, tiny rooms but nice to stay in a different, more neighboorhoodish part of Paris - in the 15th near the Eiffel Tower) tried to find a restaurant for us that was still open. We ended up with at Grand Cobert at midnight and there was still a wait. The service was dreadful (right out of a bad movie about Paris which is surprising as most of our experiences have been very positive with the French), but it was a fun spot full of Parisian smoking like chimneys and where they filmed the last scene in ''Something's Gotta Give'.
The event, Vigneron Independant , was truly amazing – kind of a bargain Disneyland for wine enthusiasts. It was €6 (about $9) to enter a convention center full of nearly 1000 independent French wine producers. Each producer had 5-10 wines you could try and most of them spoke enough English that we were able to chat with them a bit. They were organized by wine growing region, so it was a great educational experience as well. While we only attended for one day, it lasted four days, but even if you went everyday you couldn't’t possibly have covered even 25% of the wine (not even you, Karen!). We, along with everyone else, purchased a luggage cart to wheel our bounty home, as the prices were extremely reasonable. That night we had dinner at Bistrot Vivienne, a spot we found last time we were in Paris but never had any luck eating there. It was worth the wait as the food was delicious and we were surrounded by Parisians.
The event, Vigneron Independant , was truly amazing – kind of a bargain Disneyland for wine enthusiasts. It was €6 (about $9) to enter a convention center full of nearly 1000 independent French wine producers. Each producer had 5-10 wines you could try and most of them spoke enough English that we were able to chat with them a bit. They were organized by wine growing region, so it was a great educational experience as well. While we only attended for one day, it lasted four days, but even if you went everyday you couldn't’t possibly have covered even 25% of the wine (not even you, Karen!). We, along with everyone else, purchased a luggage cart to wheel our bounty home, as the prices were extremely reasonable. That night we had dinner at Bistrot Vivienne, a spot we found last time we were in Paris but never had any luck eating there. It was worth the wait as the food was delicious and we were surrounded by Parisians.
The next day we wandered around the city and stumbled upon a great outdoor market under the train tracks next to our hotel. It was really a great experience to see all the locals buying their cheese, veggies, meat, etc. These photos don't really do it justice.
We had a pretty tasty lunch at Fontaine de Mars and then walked off lunch strolling along the Seine looking for a piece of art to take home. It was a great trip and we are already planning on next year's wine tasting adventure!
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