Red Red Wine...and some White...but first, Champagne

Paris became a little blurry for me today! At noon, I attended a wine and cheese tasting and no regrets there! A group of us from around the world met in a wine cellar just off the beaten track to learn about the French wines and cheeses and it was time I had a good lesson in both those topics instead of approaching them both rather blindly. Our sommelier was a hospitable young French fellow with a very thick accent, which you would expect when attending such an event. He was really great with us and taught a lot.  I think my favourite comment was when someone asked how to make wine last for more than one day after it's open. He joked that he has never had that experience!

 Now let's see what I remember. I remember that there were some people who cancelled so it meant more for the rest of us. I also recall that many people around the table were not wine drinkers which surprised me that they were at a wine tasting.

Anyway, we began with a champagne which is typically drank here before dinner. If it is a special night such as a first date, it was suggested that a little black current (creme de cassis) is added for a Kir Royale (as opposed to a kir which is white wine with creme de cassis and a favourite of mine!). He said that would impress the women. He also shared that the lady who has the last drop from the bottle is to be married by the end of the year. Now, seeing as that was me, I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that happens...
We went on to share 4 other lovely wines - a white which was quite fruity and I loved, a rose and 2 reds. The first red was amazing and I ended up purchasing a bottle. Apparently the year 2005 was a good one and that was the date of this South Western wine which is a combination of negette,cabernet sauvignon and syrah. I look forward to having it at home. We ended with a little bonus, a sweet sweet wine from the Rhone region.

Oh yah, there was cheese! It was actually quite a spread with bread, some meats and cheeses that were all very good and ranged from camembert to a cheese that was 98% fat and tasted like butter cheese (that's the best I can do, but boy was it delicious spread on a baguette). Needless to say, I ate and drank a lot and upon leaving, am surprised I didn't buy more than one bottle!

In my remaining blur, I had a plan to go to the Musee de l'Orangerie, but this museum and I do not seem to want to connect. I have now visited it 3 times. Two times it's been closed and today they wouldn't let me in because I had a bottle. When plan a fails, plan b is shopping! But first, I needed water desparately! So a cafe for a caraffe d'eau and a smoothie then onto Galeries Lafayette, which is quite something in terms of the shopping and the design. Every designer you can imagine is housed on 7 floors and there is a whole food department which I had a great time perusing. Greatly similar to Harrods in London and packed with people. It was a little pricy for my tastes. The first pair of boots I picked up were 400 euros so I moved on.

Ceiling of Lafayette - nice shopping environment!

I was certainly ready to come home for a nap and something other than wine and cheese tonight. But I did end my day with some more antioxidants - some dark Belgian chocolate with vanilla.

Cheers to the divine food and drink experiences that the Parisians are sharing with me!