August 18, 2011
Old World Vino Adventures… the final chapters
Aww poo, vacay is over. After 21 days of train-hopping, reuniting with friends + family, befriending locals, eating the best pasta ever, adding vino to every snack/meal after 11am, mispronouncing German words, liquidating my bank account, wearing the same clothes many days in a row… my Euro adventures have come to a close. It’s time to get back to the real world and do responsible adult things like laundry, pay bills, return phone calls, and probably cut back on the daytime vino drinking {which was fondly referred to as Happy Hour USA}. Luckily my return to the work force won’t start until September, and until then I have this lovely project to deal with ::
Yup. That’s the state I left my apartment in before leaving the country for almost a month. Trust me, I’m not proud of it… Mama Chung would have a heart attack {don’t tell her}… but hey, I only had a few days to unpack and then re-pack 50 pounds of clothes + shoes into my suitcase.
Anyways, last time I blogged we were in Switzerland living it up amongst fancy ex-pats. From there, we did a weekend getaway in romantical Cinque Terre, Italy {living not-so-fancy pants, but enjoying the most beautiful scenery I have ever laid eyes on} before moving on to Deutschland to explore Berlin | Heidelberg | Munich. We had no shortage of great, reasonably-priced, locally sourced vino in every city… even in the land of bier and brats, I tasted some versatile, not-sweet German Rieslings that paired perfectly with my bretzels + wursts. Here’s the low down of our final leg of Old World vino adventures ::
First, Cinque Terre. If you haven’t been here yet, you need to go. And you need to take me with you. This place has been on my list for awhile, and my visit was everything I had hoped for and more. Sun + Riviera coast + ridiculously fresh seafood + squid ink pasta galore + long scenic hikes + shorelines to get yo’ tan on + super long sunsets = my kind of town. And there’s five of them here {hence the name – Cinque Terre}. Each village has its own wine specific to that particular “terre”, and it’s encouraged to try a glass in each town. Since we were getting our fitness on by hiking all five towns, we decided that vino at 10am might be a little aggressive. However, by the time we stopped for lunch, we had clocked in a few hours of steep hills and hundreds of cobblestone steps, which in our minds earned us Happy Hour USA. Or in this case :: a full bottle of wine. Let’s just say that the final hike {which is also the hardest, we later learned} wasn’t exactly our finest athletic feat… but our vino was cheap and delicious. Dry with a nice bouquet and crisp, clean finish – perfectly hydrating and perfect with our seafood pizza.
I <3 Happy Hour USA
From Italy, we headed to Berlin, where we thought we’d face social pressure to switch to beer. Turns out that Berlin is actually the most un-German German city in terms of eats + drinks… there really is something for everyone and everything is on the ch-ch-cheap. We answered all our ethnic food cravings in Berlin and found affordable + delicious German whites at every meal {and happy hour…}.
In Heidelberg, we had our first home-cooked meal since leaving Switzerland – paired perfectly with a 2008 Friedrich Becker Laisser Faire Riesling. This is probably when I started to realize how much I love Rieslings with food… my naïve palate has been convinced this whole time that Rieslings were syrupy, too sweet, and frankly no bueno with dinner. Clearly I was just drinking the wrong Rieslings! Let me know what recos you have for Rieslings that I can find in the States for a reasonable price… I’ve been spoiled during my time in Europe! {And shout-out to Johannes + Juliana, my friends from b-school, for hosting us in Heidelberg and amazing me with their immersion-blender-soup-making skillzzz. You can read more about the vino they poured on this blog – interesting deets on the Becker family in Germany}
I really wanted to continue my Riesling trend into Munich, but after getting stink-eye from the locals for ordering vino {more like friendly drunk heckling… but I wasn’t about to mess with the Germans}, I knew it was time for some bier. Let’s just say that I had my fill of Augustiner + wursts that night… And once I checked off the bier box, no one seemed to give me crap for wanting my vino. Even in the most touristy beer garden – Chinese Tower in the English Garden – no one cared that I had my bretzel with some weißwein. The bretzel + vino combo might be my favorite Happy Hour USA.
I <3 Germany
*Sigh* … and now it’s back to reality. But my reality is pretty exciting – I just moved to a new city, I’ll be starting a new job in just a few weeks, and I’m actually headed to Napa this weekend to see friends {Sara + Patrick are getting hitched, woot woot!!!}, as well as my sister and new brother-in-law {holy cow, I have a brother!}, aaaand the friendly folks at Jessup’s tasting room. So yeah… those moving boxes might not be getting unpacked anytime soon after all…
In the meantime, I’ll be reminiscing my Euro adventures with these current obsessions ::
- Moka pots :: my cousin made me the best espresso with this stovetop gadget, and I totally forgot how much I love the taste | flavor | roast of coffee when the grinds and water brew together sans filter. Delicious. And a new ambition to my morning routine.
- Boutique-ing in Mitte :: loved, LOVED the style in Berlin. I was inspired to spend all my Euros on clothes I can’t wear to work. And then I realized that all my Euros could probably buy me lip balm and a pair of socks. Now I’m obsessed with flat boots, harem pants, and mid-calf skirts.
- Happy Hour USA :: okay, okay… I need to leave this current obsession behind. I agree. It’s not that healthy or productive… but damn, it makes for a GREAT vacay.
Xo.
jess
