Travel

A little while ago Thalys invited to discover Cologne with them. Cologne in Germany? It made me think of Christmas markets and not much else. Needless to say I wasn’t really impressed. That’s until I starting talking to people in Antwerp about my upcoming adventure in Germany. Everybody who went there was extremely excited, especially about the Belgian Quarter. With some tips in my planner from the lovely Tine from Tinsel, I hopped on the Thalys. First class I might add, and that doesn’t suck! I’ve found that traveling by Thalys is quite a pleasant way to go around Europe. It doesn’t take you too long, the train stations are often located right in the city center (as opposed to the airports), it’s very pleasant to sit in and you get to see the landscape changing.

So the very last post of French wines week, it has been a great ride. To close off the week I would like to introduce you to a couple hotspots in Avignon which are worthwhile your visit. Avignon is a medium large city in the south of France and has great cafes, restaurants and shopping. France has a much bigger restaurant culture than us since it is apparently also not very common to hang around in the bar all night. I had dinner in one of the most delicious restaurants, L’Essentiel.

As I told you yesterday, my trip to the south of France was all about wine. They say that a wine grower doesn’t grow grapes, he grows wine. So what’s so special about growing wine you ask? When visiting the area it becomes very clear that wine making really is a labor of love. It takes a big investment of money and especially time. For example, it takes a farmer several years before he can even make living out of it’s new plants, they have to wait approximately 4 years for the vines to be strong enough. In some winemaking cooperatives (where farmers join forces to produce the wine) they even have to wait until the wine that is delivered gets sold to the end customer. They often say that one plants its vineyards not for himself but for his grandchildren.