SHERRY

Saint Emilion, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the principal red wine areas of Bordeaux. As we drove nearer to Saint Emilion, we could see many many vineyards. It would have been a pretty green with grapes throughout if we were here in the summer. But now, we could only see the stick and all were 'botak' vineyards. Saint Emilion was quite similar to  San Marino , but San Marino was bigger, have better scenery and more things to explore. Saint Emilion was a little 'meh' as a UNESCO heritage site. The 13th and 14th century ruins were not as magnificent as what we saw in Rome . I guess visiting in the wrong season also played a part in making the visit even more 'meh'. We're done with walking around the whole town in about 1 hour. But if you like wine, it's really a place where you can explore as there're many shops selling wine. Walking around the town, there're several sites of monuments and ruins marked as attractions on the m...

Cognac, the name of the town we visited and also the name of the World's best known type of Brandy. In order to be named Cognac, the drink must be made in certain areas around the town of Cognac and must be made according to the regulations. Within the town of Cognac, we saw the Cognac houses of several big brands which visitors can pay a fee for the tour during their opening hours. These brands includes Remy Martin, Henessy, Otard, Martell, Camus etc. A pity that these tours were available everyday in the summer, but only from Monday to Friday during winter. Hence, we didn't get to go for any tours. But we did learn something about Cognac, and many other things, from the host of the Chateau we stayed at, Domaine De Chatenay . The Chateau is really beautiful. I felt like a princess staying in a castle! Once we entered the Chateau, we were already "WOW"!!!! The elegant chandeliers, the posh tables, chairs and hallway, the princessy room and the impres...

Woohoo! La Teste De Buch, France will be my home for the next 2 months! So happy to be away from work, away from the hot and humid weather, away from the crowded and squeezy city! It's a peaceful little town and is around 45mins drive away from the big city Bordeaux. After I touched down at Bordeaux airport on Saturday, hubby brought me around Bordeaux. The historic part of Bordeaux was listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city has a nice bridge across the river and the 18th century architecture situated along the river. The barge sailing on the river is carrying a wing of the A380. Dunno where is it going to head to though..   The foreground is a shallow pool of water which hubby said that when there's no wind, and thus no ripples in the water, it will become a mirror which will reflect the architecture   After walking around for a while, I'm quite tired. Jet lag i supposed? And hubby brought me back to All Suites La Teste Appart Hotel...

Arrived at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and took the RER B train to Gare Du Nord station. The journey was around 30 mins and cost 9.50 Euros per person one way. Hmm, another expensive city. Public Transport Public transport in Paris is quite difficult to understand. It took us a while to know that not all the lines on the map are Metro lines. The lines can be for Metro, trams or train, differentiated by colors, numbers and thickness of the lines on the map. And one station can be so big that we walked like 10 mins in order to change from one line to another. The single trip ticket in Paris is not as expensive as London. One trip within the Paris city is 1.70 Euros. If you are confident that you and your travel mates will take 10 trips in Paris, you can buy a bundle of 10 tickets at 13.30 Euros. We bought the 10 tickets bundle and saved some money. Louvre Beautiful both at night and in the day, but it was much more romantic at night. I love the night view of Louvre more. What...