Celebrating 5 years in the wine country-Day 1

Lyle works for a wonderful company that has rewarded hard work......and he works hard!  Five years ago, he earned a week-end trip to New York City.  It was a time when we were searching for a place to get married. Voilà!  Why not do it there?

And that is what we did.....in Central Park....with my two dear friends Larry and Jan to support us and marry us....

You would think just celebrating 5 years in Paris would be enough, but we had been holding on to a Relais & Chateaux gift certificate for over a year to use somewhere special. These are special hotels!  Begun in 1954 with chateaux from Paris to the Riviera, there are now over 500 hotels around the world that include castles, resorts, and 5-star hotels....the places we dream about but are out of our price range.  Our time in Europe was running out...this seemed a perfect time. And again, complements to his company.

We have visited a lot of areas of France, but one place we really kept our eyes on was the wine region of Bordeaux, home of some of the greatest red wines of the world.  I searched through our book of hotels and chose one in St-Emilion, a village famous for the wines of the same name.  Medieval.  Walls. Narrow streets.  Perfect.

But it's a long way.  After checking trains and rental cars, we decided on driving there and taking the fast TGV back, a decision that worked out perfectly.  It is a 6-hour drive through the yellow colza (safflower) fields south of Paris, through the Dordogne Valley (where the prehistoric caves were discovered), and on to the beautiful rolling hills filled with over 100,000 vineyards (just beginning to sprout their leaves).

We arrived at our hotel in the heart of St-Emilion, a 200-year old stone building standing on the foundations of an underground church, built by monks during the 9th to 12th century.

This hotel is THE place where wine tasters and buyers from around the world stay.  It felt luxurious, but was not ornate.  Just beautiful.  Though we weren't in the most expensive rooms in the hotel, our room was spacious and comfortable, with an incredible bathroom and toiletries.   The view from the terrace of the hotel looked over the town below us, filled with cafes, shops, and narrow streets.

But what was the most incredible about our stay was our dinner, also included in our gift certificate.  As Frommers puts it, "This cuisine served here is the best known and most praised in the area."  The dinner was amazing, probably the best I have ever had as far as unique, delicious, and beautifully presented.  Most of the time we did not know what we were being served, but at each course a waiter explained in English what it was.  Sometimes that didn't help, as I had never heard of some of the foods.  Jabuga 5 jotas?  Tobiko with wasabi asparagus?  Poached egg in a serving plate made just for it.  But when I tried to cut the small parmesan cake with a knife, the famous chef  Philippe Etchebest came over to our table, grinned, and told me to use my fingers!  "We are simple here!", he said.  Then he asked if everything was to our taste and went to greet others.  Totally amazing.

The courses that followed included red mullet looking like a small boat, with citrus fruits, coriander, fresh mint and pureed lime and nut-brown butter.  Then free-range duck, somehow cooked as a mousse, with sugar peas, turnips, dates.   Followed by a pre-dessert and then chocolate.  And each course, naturally, accompanied by a local wine.  How do I even remember?  Our personalized menu was given to us on our way out onto the moon-lit terrace to enjoy a cup of espresso.

C'est magnifique!