Wine Country

After recharging our batteries in Bordeaux after our big day at Le Tour, we decided to make the most of the beautiful day and explore the nearby wine country, namely the Saint Emilion region.

And it was really a lovely day. The sun was high, the lines of vines were straight, the wine cellars we visited were nice and cool,

And, of course, the buildings were pretty.

The French really do shabby chic to perfection, don't they?

Here's Tom being excited by something. I honestly have no memory of what he was supposed to be doing in this photo.

Cassie admired the giant fish bowl wine glasses...

Tom posed with ceramic grapes...

We admired the beauty of oak barrels...

And the perfect little bunches of green grapes. All these guys have left to do now is turn burgundy in colour, apparently. They've reached their full size.

Some places really get into the spirit of things. Custom-made grapevine handrail anyone?

We drove around, admired the view, drove some more, admired the view some more... you get the idea.

Unfortunately dingy cellars don't make for the best photos, so this is Tom admiring giant-sized wine bottles.

The range of available sizes... pretty impressive!

Tom of course liked this one the best.

A wine connoisseur in the making!

We had an excellent lesson in the process of wine-making in a cute little out-of-the-way place that moonlights as a home for metal animals made of car parts!

Including friends from home, kangaroos! Go figure!

This is apparently what ideal wine-growing soil looks like. Dry and rocky and horrible. Apparently the vines need to fight to survive, or the wine just isn't worth it.

We finished the day cooking a meal in the fantastic little kitchenette in our hotel room (which I unfortunately neglected to take photos of), and started the next day with an urgent need to go shopping.

That is, shopping for white clothes, for Tom to wear to run with the bulls very soon in Pamplona!

We dashed in to the main shopping street at top speed so Dave and Cassie didn't get a parking ticket...

And Tom found himself a winning outfit... he hopes!

Essential shopping completed, we hopped back in the van and trundled off once more. Not before I managed to take another door photo though...

And a parting shot of this very impressive square.