LIVE from the Prinsendam - 24 day Med Rivieras & River Explorer - please join us

[kazu]

It’s rather late now and I only have one suitcase done 😞. But it’s the tricky packing (folding and all that stuff as most of the clothes are clean so, with luck, I won’t be rushy tomorrow night and if I am, so be it).

 

I will get back to Bordeaux day and I have a ton but I need to be focused.

 

So, here is the sail away out of Bordeaux for you.

 

It is unbelievable.

 

The timing has to be perfect.  The first bridge opens and if I understood correctly you have 11 minutes to pass before it starts to close again.

 

Farewell to Bordeaux.

 

 

Approaching the bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it doesn’t look like there is much room there isn’t.  My better spacious adapted friend guessed it was 6 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

And there is a second bridge.  But first we have to go through the finish the first one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approaching the 2nd bridge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell to Bordeaux from the aft 😉 

 

 

 

 

[TiogaCruiser]

Wow. What a beautiful day!

[1of4]

Oh I saw a riverboat in Bordeaux... I think this is the only way I will get to this area.  I loved your pictures but I couldn’t do the walking you did and I don’t drink so I never thought of going to the region.  Now I am.  DH thanks you.

 

How long a layover?  What time of day?

[cat shepard]

Just catching up. Wow! 

 

I have run run out of words. I am so sorry that you are nearing the end of your trip. Again, thank you for taking me along.

[kazu]

6 hours ago, 1of4 said:

Oh I saw a riverboat in Bordeaux... I think this is the only way I will get to this area.  I loved your pictures but I couldn’t do the walking you did and I don’t drink so I never thought of going to the region.  Now I am.  DH thanks you.

 

How long a layover?  What time of day?

 

6 hour layover the last time i looked.  I had the perfect flight with just a 2.5 hour layover (perfect to greet through Customs/Immigration in TO.  Then Air Canada cancelled my connecting flight and put us on that awful one that comes in after midnight.

 

It’s ok.  DH can watch soccer on this IPad and I can airdrop photos to my old one and work on my Live thread 😉 

[kazu]

Well, we are in St. Peter Port - Guernsey 🙂 

 

Immigration was much smoother than expected and we WERE allowed to tender as soon as we got through immigration.

 

We checked yesterday and even though different people were assigned different numbers we were all allowed to go through at the same time as we were a group.

 

Not only that, we were able to get tender tickets for our group 🙂. Most of us are 4 and 5 star anyways, but Thomas the Asst Cruise Director was in charge of the tender tickets for the 4 & 5*  and he is very client focussed.  Note to self to write up a “Share your thoughts” on him.  

 

Some of us even got through immigration before it was called.  They were early and set up so getting the alert from others, we went through.

 

We were on the 2nd tender and could meet our tour on time.  HURRAH!

 

Now, I should try to take you back to Bordeaux for a second before DH says it’s time to move on 😉 

 

On our way to our first wine tasting:

 

 

 

And we are here!

 

 

 

It’s a very pretty spot≥

 

 

 

Our guide and our hostess at the chateau.  As you can see they are both quite exuberant about their jobs

 

 

Some of their vines.  They have several types here

 

 

This is an olive tree.  It is over 100 years old.  When the owners rejuvenated the property, the King of Spain came and gave them two olive trees.  They are doing very well.

 

 

[kazu]

The land here is terraced.

 

This allows them to grow different types of vines.

 

The Merlot is up high as it likes to pierce through the limestone.  The roots have been found going down 30 metres.

 

The Cabernet Franc likes to be lower and cooler.

 

 

And although they can’t seem it under their name (they are designated red and the classification rules in Bordeaux are very strict).  It turns out Madame of the Chateau is a woman after my own heart and prefers white.  

 

So they are growing white wine vines as an experiment.  The current on in bottles is called Angela (after Madame).

 

They have worked hard to restore this winery, restore the walls and vineyards and are a Grand Cru.  They hope to go up higher in the rating next evaluation.

 

When the walls were restored, they left this part exposed to show the different types of rock.  The top is the limestone that the merlot loves.  At the bottom you will find the much desired blue clay which gives a different taste to some wines.

 

 

I don’t think I need to tell you what happens here do I?

 

The big containers are for the final product.

 

The winery doesn’t have a bottling matchine and they don’t want to ship it out as it will disturb the wine, so a bottling truck comes to them and the wine is fed in, bottled and returned without disturbing it.

 

 

 

 

The barrel room.  The stacks aren’t high as they don’t want to stack them too much.  Each barrel costs over 1,000 euros!

 

 

The barrels are simply rolled to move about the yeast and wine, etc.

 

 

This tells the master which direction they need to be rolled.

 

 

Oops, time to move on.  (DH just looked at his watch 😉 ). Be back later.

[kazu]

Back on the ship and I am going to work on finishing Packing.  

 

You all realize that the word PACK is a 4 letter word, right? 😉 

 

Once that’s done and I hope it is before we start sailing, I’ll be updating some more and then it’s dinner in the Pinnacle Grill 😄. With some roll call friends.

 

I am trying to figure out how to get the new shoes purchases in the same suitcases we came with 😞.  I just LOVE a challenge (NOT).

 

I just want to say only one pair is mine and women’s shoes take up less space and weight a lot less than men’s.  That’s my line and I’m sticking to it.

 

We had a fabulous walking tour with Annette and were enamoured and enthralled with the history of Guernsey.  Truly moving.  

 

Of course, I will bore you all with that once I get through Bordeau.

 

While we disembark tomorrow, more adventures await as we are travelling and touring to our hotels.  Absolutely thrilled to go to visit Canterbury and the Cathedral and our other stop.

 

Stay tuned - be back later 🙂 

[Rotary]

I am going to miss you daily posts They have been wonderful and very informative.

Safe travels today.

[sfocruiser]

Sorry to see this chapter close.  Janis and I were on the LIS-CIV leg and it was great to meet you and Jose and meet a fellow Dalhousie Alum.  It was been fun to follow your final leg on the Princendam.  Safe travels home!

[ger_77]

You must have had some seriously full suitcases if you couldn't find room for the new shoes!  Suggestion: why not just put the shoes in your carry-on?  That's what I've done in the past - in fact, one time I needed to make space (and reduce the weight), so I put DH's tux shoes in his carry-on.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[ncgolferette]

Jacqui - you were there for the royal wedding and now the royal baby!  Great Timing! How did you do it?  Your Prinsendam reports were wonderful.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful journey.

 

ruth Ann 

[kazu]

6 hours ago, Rotary said:

I am going to miss you daily posts They have been wonderful and very informative.

Safe travels today.

 

I still have a lot of posts to do - I’m still on Bordeaux so you won’t be rid of my reports yet 😉 

 

We are in London at the Hilton Wembley.  What a day with our fabulous guide.

 

We walked the White Cliffs of Dover footpaths and gazed at the white cliffs up close, visited Canterbury Cathedral and a lovely historic pub (where the Battles of Britain had the love scene) and some lovely villages.

 

We had such an easy disembarkation it was ridiculous.  (Customs and Immigration was yesterday in St. Peter Port).  Smooth as silk and so fast.  Our only bump was when we were questioned by Border Force.  Nothing serious, just where are you going, leaving, what time is your flight, etc.  We teased Angelo that he looked suspicious 😉 

 We were out way before the time to meet our guide but fortunately he had arrived early and thought the 6 of us might be his group.

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

4 hours ago, ger_77 said:

You must have had some seriously full suitcases if you couldn't find room for the new shoes!  Suggestion: why not just put the shoes in your carry-on?  That's what I've done in the past - in fact, one time I needed to make space (and reduce the weight), so I put DH's tux shoes in his carry-on.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

 

I’ve put shoes in my carry on before but wanted to avoid it if I could this time.  

 

I’ll have you know that I got them all in the suitcases (Jose better not complain they are too heavy 😉 ) and they were all out by 5 pm.  Are you proud of me?

 

Too much stuff in the carry on off the ship but a lot of that will be shuffled tomorrow 😉 

[kazu]

3 hours ago, ncgolferette said:

Jacqui - you were there for the royal wedding and now the royal baby!  Great Timing! How did you do it?  Your Prinsendam reports were wonderful.  Thanks for sharing your wonderful journey.

 

ruth Ann 

 

Just heard the news a few minutes ago, Ruth Ann.

 

Jose and I were amazed that the two events happened both times we were in Dover.  We might just have to come back to create another great event 🙂. LOL.

 

 

[bennybear]

Working on catching up!   Just got home from our Japan cruise.  Loving the food pictures!  You have made me want to return to Lisbon.   We loved Herculaneum,  so sorry you got bruised yikes!  

You need to visit Otaru, Japan!  I think it was a restaurant, sorry I didn’t get a picture of the front which was much more picturesque. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by bennybear

[sansterre]

Bordeaux is also on my bucket list now.  The city looks interesting and we enjoy wine and wineries.

Your blog is very well-written and the photos really bring it to life.  Thank you again!

I checked the roll call and my brother posted on there just a week or so prior to sail date.  You promptly gave him additional instructions but he may not have returned to Roll Call to see them.       I now look forward to seeing his photos too!

Edited May 7, 2019 by sansterre

[kazu]

18 hours ago, sansterre said:

Bordeaux is also on my bucket list now.  The city looks interesting and we enjoy wine and wineries.

Your blog is very well-written and the photos really bring it to life.  Thank you again!

I checked the roll call and my brother posted on there just a week or so prior to sail date.  You promptly gave him additional instructions but he may not have returned to Roll Call to see them.       I now look forward to seeing his photos too!

 

Now you have piqued my curiosity.

 

Which CC name did he have?  I probably didn’t see him on my spread sheet listing because i closed it off about 3 weeks before sailing but if he came to the Meet and Greet i would remember as there were only a few manual name tags 😉

 

You are very kind with your comments.  Thank you.  I’m not a good writer by any means but I do like to share.

 

And since I am stuck here in Toronto for a few hours I’ll see if I can’t at least finish off Bordeaux tonight.

 

I’m a little weary but I think I’m still with it enough to post 😉 

[kazu]

20 hours ago, bennybear said:

Working on catching up!   Just got home from our Japan cruise.  Loving the food pictures!  You have made me want to return to Lisbon.   We loved Herculaneum,  so sorry you got bruised yikes!  

You need to visit Otaru, Japan!  I think it was a restaurant, sorry I didn’t get a picture of the front which was much more picturesque. 

 

Thanks.  Japan is on DH’s bucket list.

 

No bigger on the bruising.  I managed just fine.  It looked a lot worse than it was. 😉. 

[kazu]

Pretty soon it was time for our wine tasting.

 

It was kind of nice that they had the menu with the description of the wines labelled Jacqui’s wine tasting 😉 

 

We had our own little room

 

 

And got settled in

 

 

There was a very nice munchie selection.

 

The jelly is actually one they make here from the left overs of the wine.

 

[1of4]

Welcome back to (nearly) home.  It was much warmer yesterday but at least it’s not snowing!  We have the frost advisory up here but the airport is clear tonight so you shouldn’t have any issues getting out tonight.

[kazu]

I can’t comment much on the wines here as they were all reds.  I have to be very careful with reds and took a drop of each and then gave it to DH.

 

By the second wine tasting, my lips were stinging and I knew i was about to pay the price who I had to excuse myself for a moment and sip a LOT of water outside.

 

DH liked the wines at the first winery though 😉 

 

After our wine tasting here, we moved to the 2nd winery. It was in a home I’m the middle of St. Emillion.  It has been in the family for generations.

 

We had to be respectful of course as we were in someone’s home.

 

 

Of the 850 chateaux in the area, 82 are classified.

 

Bordeaux if very strict on it’s appellations.  Only certain vines can be grown (or sold under the vineyard’s name if they deviate).

 

Production is limited to allow for good quality.

 

There are Gran Gru’s, Premier Grand Cru’s and A Grand Cru’s.

 

If the chateaus do not meet the testing criteria, they can be declassified and lose their merchants and buyers (and price).  So this is serious business.

 

According to our guide some of the most expensive wine is the Petras variety.  It is at least 2,000 euros per bottle.  The older wines are 3 - 5,000 euros.  Some chateaus sold their land to Petra in order to cover their inheritance tax.  The inheritance tax is a huge problem for chateaus so families try to plan for the future.

 

A bit of trivia for you.  Originally when the different appellations were started, everyone sent the  wine to the port to be mixed and bottled.  One man wasn’t happy with the process as he thought his wine was being ruined.  So he started bottling his own.  His name was Rothschild.  Yes, he set the trend of bottling your own wine.

 

 

 

 

St Emillion is a busy place with the tourists, etc.  But the backyard was a haven and you heard nothing at all.

 

 

As we were arriving the owner of the chateau arrived in his Corvette.

 

They don’t make a lot of money, supposedly but I suspect they have over time 😉 

 

I couldn’t resist taking a pic 😉

 

 

 

This winery  produces the red wines and in particular, the merlots.  The merlots cannot be crushed.  They are put in and eventually the skins come off on their own.

 

They use French Oak barrels of course.

 

They sort the grapes by hand.  They have skilled people to do it.  I saw the sorting machine (you can see it in the pic) and he told me they stopped using it years ago.  Why do you still have it, I asked?  (Kazu, is a nosy person).  Turns out they barter it to other wineries that do use sorting machines for their bottling machines.  Quite brilliant, really as they don’t have a bottling machine.  They are a small winery.  Most Grand Cru’s are.

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

This is the neat thing - they have a tax to pay - so it all the seeds, skins, etc., are put in this barrel and the Government comes to collect them.  It is then sold to cosmetic companies, etc who process it and the monies go to the Government to help pay for health care, maintenance, etc.

 

The left overs are of no use to the winery so this seems like an excellent idea to me and one more wineries should adapt in North America.

 

They don’t stack their barrels here.  They are there babies 

 

 

Scuh a beautiful property. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I said  they don’t stack their barrels here 😉 

 

 

Cobblestones everywhere until we got downstairs.  That is pure cavern.

 

 

 

Then we went down to the cellar.  No pics allowed as you can’t carry anything.  You need to go down the stairs and they are narrow -and I do mean narrow.

 

You walk backwards down, like a ladder.  A bit intimidating, but I did it!  

 

OMG you should see it.  Amazing.  They have bottles going down for decades.  They keep them as part of the family legacy.

 

They are all dated except for the during the 2nd World War.  

 

Underneath is all caverns and the family found a way to hide the wine from the Nazi’s when they were occupied.

 

It’s absolutely incredible down below.

 

Afterward we were off on a short walk in town to where the wine is sold and available for tasting:

 

 

 

 

A very old building that again dates back to the family.

 

The vineyards are actually just a few metres away and still in part of the town.

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

 

 

The different wines that we tasted: