Europe 2023

What we did:
- Woke up in Beaune and strolled through the downtown square for a bit before stopping in a cafe for breakfast. We then headed to the car to drive to Pommard for our first Burgundy wine tasting!
- Chateau de Pommard had huge grounds, a very grand estate and house, and beautiful gardens. We had a private tour and tried 5 different wines. This winery in particular had its own classifications and did not go by the standard Burgundy wine classifications which was odd and very confusing. However, all 5 burgundy red wines were delicious! At this point, we felt pretty confident that we liked the Burgundy wines better than the Beaujolais wines.
-We walked around the grounds a bit after our tasting and explored the town of Meursault down the way. We stopped in a Patisserie and got an assortment of French pastries and coffee. Delicious!
- We then stopped at our last winery of the day, Domaine Guillame Baduel. Another private tour with a family run vineyard. We were with an older French man who was super nice and very helpful. He was the one who finally described the wine classifications in a way that was easy to digest (see fun facts below). We tried two white wines and two red wines in the downstairs wine cellar. We asked a lot of questions and he had answers to all of them! Great wine and great teacher.
- We headed back to Beaune to spend some time in town on our last night there. We grabbed a drink at Bar 66 and Ale Vintage before heading over to Brasserie Lazard Carnot for a great French dinner!

What we ate:
- Croissants, quiche, and coffees at Les Baltardises.
- Pastries and sandwiches at a Boulangerie in Meursault.
- Brasserie Lazard Carnot: Trent got the steak frites and Steph got the most amazing French burger! We split another lava cake for dessert. Tres magnifique!

Fun facts:
- Burgundy primarily grows two different grapes, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The soil can vary drastically by mere meters throughout the region. That is why there are 4 classifications for Burgundy wines. The lowest tier is Region meaning that if you buy a bottle of wine that says “Burgundy” or “Bourgogne” this is the lowest classification of Burgundy wine based on the soil/land that grapes were grown from. The second tier is Village, meaning in order to buy wines from the second tier it will not say “Burgundy” on the bottle, just the village - making it increasingly difficult for consumer recognition in the states if you are unaware of the classification system and are unable to decipher different villages in the region! The next tier is Premier Cru. In this case this is best wine that most consumers will purchase due to the value and price point. These bottles will include the village and the words “Premier Cru” to classify the wine. The highest tier is Grand Cru and most bottles go for thousands of euro! Most people who don’t understand the classification will end up buying the lowest classification, Region, because it say “Burgundy” on the bottle and is the cheapest.
- As of this part of the trip, Trent had adopted some of Stephs lingo and is using “lovely” to describe all of the French scenery.Read more

What we did:
- Slept in, of course, because why not. Our vacation days are sadly dwindling. Europe doesn’t do breakfast so we found another delicious American brunch spot and plotted our day!
- After brunch we headed off on our tourist journey. We took the metro across town and started at the “Arc de Triomph”. Cool to see how large the roundabout is with the offshoots across Paris from it, but at the end of the day it is just a stone gate so we moved on fairly quickly
- Walked down the Champs-Elysees strip of stores and parks. Then made it to the massive “Jardin des Tuileres” where we wandered through the gorgeous park. Perfect fall time for the leaves changing.
- We then came up to the Louvre! Like all the other touristy things, tickets were booked out months ago so we didn’t stand a chance against the throngs of people. But let’s be honest, didn’t actually want to go in anyway so this just made us not feel guilty.
- Continued our walk through the famous fashion house district where Trent scarfed down a pile of pastries and a sandwiches. Steph was unsurprisingly still full from brunch.
- We then found Sarah’s recommended macaroon store, “Lauderée” and got an assortment of the French delicacy. Steph was unsurprisingly hungry again since desert was in the picture! We took them over to the park and tasted the variety of flavors. Way better than the dry ones in the US, but still pretty overrated
- Walked along the Seine and called Sally to catch up before their Cabo trip! We loved the views - Paris is cool - we’ve decided.
- Walked over to Notre Dame and were pleasantly surprised to see how much was still there. There is a massive construction process to rebuild it all by the 24’ olympics.
- Sufficiently cultured, we headed to grab drinks at a cool cafe in the 3rd arrondissement!
- Given France’s imperialist past with Vietnam, there is a huge presence of great Vietnamese food so we then headed up to the 11th to enjoy delicious Pho. Probably the best we’ve tried other than what we had when we were visiting Vietnam.
- Determined to inadvertently walk through the entirety of Paris in a day, we headed up to Montmartre for drinks. Walked by the Moulin Rouge and got Steph her French Crème Brûlée before calling it a night.
- Awesome day in Paris! Went through 8 of the 17 arrondissements. Guess we needed that calorie burn

Where we ate:
- Holybelly in the 10th for breakfast! Steph got pancakes, halloumi and sausage while Trent got eggs benedict, smoked salmon and potatoes. Great cafe créme as well!
- Trent had French sammy and croissants for lunch at Yannick Martin bakery
- Absolutely delicious Pho and spring rolls at Dong Houng
- Crème Brûlée At Café des Deux Moulins in Montmartre

Fun facts:
- The Mona Lisa is voted the #1 most overrated thing in Europe
- We learned that cappuccinos aren’t really a thing in France. They sell them but they are pretty bad. To get as close to a cappuccino as possible you have to order “cafe creme”.
- The Arc de Triomphe is actually for the tomb of an unknown soldier from WW1 and every single day they relight a fire there
- Notre Dame fire was likely started by a cigarette. They had a crazy elaborate process over the years to clean it up, stabilize it and rebuild for the olympics
- Café des Deux Moulins is famous for it’s key scene in AmelieRead more