December 2024 – Lover of Wine – Travel along on our adventures

December 31, 2024

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral and a Christmas Market

Several years ago, I read Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King. While this was really a focus on the water-lilies he painted, it did make me aware of Monet in a much different way and in particular his impressionist paintings of the Cathedral of Rouen. Over the course of several years, Monet painted more then 30 different versions of the Cathedral during different times of day and periods of the year. When Monet painted all of these impressions the Cathedral of Rouen was the tallest building in the world. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of seeing any of the ones he did, at least one of which is in the National Gallery of Art in DC, but I did get to see the actual Cathedral. Our sunny day made the façade shine.

Rouen Cathedral is famous for its three towers, each in a different style. The cathedral, built and rebuilt over a period of more than eight hundred years, has features from Early Gothic to late Flamboyant and Renaissance architecture. These towers are also famous for being the tallest in France with its 19^th-century spire rising to just under 500 feet!

The cathedral has a fine collection of stained glass from the 13th to the 20th century.

The stained-glass windows were installed progressively during the cathedral’s construction. One of the oldest examples is the booksellers’ rose in the north transept.

A quite interesting site is the staircase that leads to the Cathedral Library – This late Gothic stair case was built, under the direction of archbishop William d’Estouteville, by Guillaume Pontis in 1480. The stairs used to lead to the Cathedral library which was situated just above the Flamboyant Gothic arched door. In 1788 another story was built above the library to hold the Cathedral records and the upper flights of stairs were added then.

However lovely the Cathedral is, we have been in a number of different ones over the last couple of months and we really wanted to spend some time in the Christmas Market so we didn’t tour the inside fully.

The Rouen Christmas market did not disappoint. There were a number of stalls and lots of holiday decorations. The stall with UGG- like slippers and silk scarves also provided gifts and a story. The center city also provided a fine Vietnamese meal for Beth, David, Ryan, Christopher, and Janeen before heading to the car.

After the Market, as we headed back to our car, we passed under Gros-Horloge a 14th century astronomical clock. The clock is installed in a Renaissance arch crossing the Rue du Gros-Horloge. The mechanism is one of the oldest in France, the movement having been made in 1389.

A fascinating piece of history.

Have you enjoyed our adventures? Please leave a comment and let us know!

December 29, 2024

Norte-Dame de Chartres

Once we left the river cruise, we traveled by train to Livarot France – where our son has a ‘gite’ (holiday home) and is developing a B&B operation. (https://www.ledouetfleury.fr/en) Beth, our friend from Sonoma, joined us for several days. She had never been to this part of France before and was anxious to see where our son and his husband, Christopher, lived. Livarot is about 3 hours northwest of Paris.

Livarot-Pays-d’Auge, as it is officially known, is a commune in the department of Calvados and became the central municipality of the 22 former communes in January 2016. With a population of just over 6,200 it is known for cheese – a major cheese plant is in the town producing the three main cheeses of Normandy – Livarot Cheese, Normandy Camembert and Pont-l’Eveque. A free tour of the factory is available most days and Beth along with Christopher took the tour (I went a week or so later after Beth had left). Livarot also has a large apple processing plant turning apples into juice and apple sauce.

After settling in for the evening, we gathered our resources and planned our next trip – to Norte-Dame de Chartres.

The construction Chartres Cathedral started about 20 years after the more famous Cathedral in Paris (one of the other Norte-Dame Cathedrals). Chartres is one of the best-known and most influential examples of High Gothic and Classic Gothic architecture,

It stands on a Romanesque basements, while its north spire is more recent (1507–1513) and is built in the more ornate flamboyant style. Long renowned as “one of the most beautiful and historically significant cathedrals in all of Europe,” it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, which called it “the high point of French Gothic art” and a “masterpiece”.

The Cathedral is well-preserved and well-restored: the majority of the original stained-glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The cobalt blue of the windows makes Chartres unique. The building’s exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 349 ft plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 377 ft early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

Flying-buttress-supporting-the-upper-walls-and-counterbalancing-the-outward-thrust-of-the-vaulted-ceiling-allowing-thin-walls-and-greater-space-for-windows

One of the more interesting aspects of the Cathedral, which makes it stand out from others, is that it has a medieval labyrinth dating from the early 13^th century on the floor. The labyrinth is a stone inlay with only one path whereas a maze has a choice of paths.

This labyrinth has 11 concentric circles and rounded sides with twists and turns to lead to the center and then back out and symbolizes the journey of Christ’s salvation.

The entire area around the Cathedral is under construction making the area a pedestrian area only with paving stones replacing the roadway. Unlike the other cathedrals we have visited during this adventure, there was NOT a Christmas Market happening which was nice.

A simple nativity scene created inside the Cathedral.

There is extensive restoration happening both on the exterior and interior of the building so there was scaffolding making it more difficult to see some of the features of the building. Once inside, we picked up the audio guide and began our tour – it was one of the best audio tours I think we have had! It described the Cathedral in detail and highlighted various areas.

After completing our tour, we went across the ‘square’ and had a lovely lunch prior to heading back to Livarot.

December 19, 2024

Strasbourg – End of Christmas Market Cruise

We have left Germany and are now in France!

We have been to Strasbourg several times but never in the winter months. We had thought about taking the train from Paris during December, several years ago, to see the Christmas Market but never made it happen.

The historic town with its cobbled lanes, half-timbered homes, giant stork nests, and impossible-to-resist pastry shops are hard to pass up for sure. Strasbourg is a city with deep connections to both France and Germany having been ruled by both countries over the centuries. Enchanting half-timbered houses line the canals of Petite France, one of the oldest districts, and the medieval cathedral—a religious institution has stood in its spot for 3,000 years—is extraordinary.

Strasbourg calls itself the Capital of Christmas and really goes all out for the holidays. The Christmas tree on Place Kléber towers over hundreds of stalls—but it’s only one part of the market, which spreads through 10 neighboring locations, all of them both historic and wonderfully decorated. We focused our attention to the market around the Cathedral.

After a short coach ride, we walked the merry streets to get to the Cathedral and its adjacent Market.

Once we made it to the Cathedral, I checked on a restaurant we had visited in the past that had a major focus on cheese – La Cloche à Fromage. Unfortunately, it was fully booked for lunch so we ended up in a very nice place a few doors down. Louisa, the Cruise Director, joined us for lunch and it was a very nice time allowing us all to get to know each other better.

Theresa, Beth, Louisa add David enjoying an Alsatian Lunch.

After lunch, we headed out to look over more of the market.

This Christmas Market River Cruise has been quite an adventure. While there is one more stop, Basel, it’s not likely we will visit its market with all the other things that are happening. I was very pleased to have Barbara take time out of her schedule to visit the Ship. I had met Barbara a couple of years ago on our first UniWorld Mystery Cruise and have delighted to take over 200 plus selfies with her since that time.

Our group of ‘Framily’ consisted of family and new friends and it was an enjoyable experience. Who knows, maybe we will reconnect on a future adventure. Here are a few pictures of our adventure that didn’t make the original posting.

Did I mention that Bill liked a lot of bread?

Some group shots of Tiyeme, Michael, Chris, Bill and Theresa, Terri and Jason

Until Next time! Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Family and Friends enjoying a wonderful adventure

This may end our Christmas Market Cruise, but we are heading out to Normandy with Beth to be with our son Ryan and his husband Chris for the next couple of weeks and then to Wiesbaden to be with our entire family for Christmas. There are lots of adventures yet to come so stay tuned.

Your comments are always appreciated.

December 18, 2024

Baden-Baden our final German Christmas Market

While many of our group were out tasting vinegar, we headed into Baden-Baden for a brief walking tour and a visit to the Christmas Market. Several years ago, we had been to Baden-Baden but on a Sunday when most places were closed – but given the Market, shopping wasn’t on our list of activities. Having two young girls with us necessitated a visit to the ‘ride area’ of the Market where they could enjoy a couple of whirls around the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel.

This was a smaller market then others we had visited but still had all the traditional items – many booths selling ornaments, trinkets, jewelry, clothing and other items plus of course food and Glühein with the required souvenir mug.

Did I mention our ‘group’ collected some mugs?

Of course, we had to have a snack before heading back to the ship.

After visiting various booths and picking up a few things we made our way back to the bus to have some relaxing time on the ship.

Did I mention the ship had a pool? Our Grands really enjoyed it.

That evening was a Celebration on board with lots of special treats and music.

The Crew sang Christmas songs for us in the Lounge

Baden-Baden was our last port of call in Germany. Tomorrow we head to France!

December 17, 2024December 17, 2024

A Vinegar Tasting with Guest Blogger – Theresa Bodnar…

While Janeen and I were going to Baden-Baden with the grandgirls, a large contingent of our group headed off to a vinegar tasting. We had done this tasting some years ago and had urged our ‘group’ to experience this unique opportunity. So, I reached out to Theresa Bodnar to write up something about their experiences…thus a ‘guest’ blogger.

Guten Tag! It is truly an honor to be a guest blogger for loverofwine and to join David and Janeen and their family (my “framily” – ie, friends that become family) on this Christmas Market cruise with Uniworld along the Rhine River! David has frequently entertained me with tales of all of his adventures with this cruise line that I’ve gotten to revisit by re-reading his historical blogs – – – so when he asked me to write about my delightful vinegar tasting experience, I couldn’t resist!

Guest Blogger, Theresa Bodnar all robed up!

So it started like this – David “STRONGLY URGED” members of our party to select the Weinessinggut Doktorenhof (Wine Vinegar Doktorenhof) vinegar tour and tasting experience while docked in the port of Gersheim, Germany. He and Janeen had taken the tour several years prior and were blown away by the experience – and when David and Janeen recommend something so highly, you know it’s worth it!

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical at first – vinegar? I could tolerate it on fries and I had attempted to drink a small amount of apple cider vinegar down one time because someone had told me it had amazing health benefits – and I almost choked. BUT – I trusted David’s advice and I love trying new experiences, especially with great friends, so we all said, “Let’s do it”.

Ultimately, I’m so happy I took David’s advice because it was an absolutely AMAZING experience and the vinegar was actually quite tasty – so much so, that I bought 5 bottles to take home!

When we arrived to Weinessinggut Doktorenhof, our tour guide took us back to a special room in the home where we each selected a monastic looking robe to wear during the tour. I felt not only like I was being taken back in time but also like I was about to embark on a very special, secret society adventure.

Jason and Terri really go into the whole ‘robe’ thing…

Once appropriately transformed we were taken down to the cellars where the guide spoke in detail about the manufacturing process. Basically you start off with a batch of wine and you spoil it using a “mother” starter. This turns the wine into vinegar. You then infuse it with a different flavor or combination of flavors ranging from wild cherries, apricots, vanilla beans, fig, wild oranges, lavender and any number of other things to give it an overall flavor or aroma.

Herbs are also used as part of the blending and aging process. Part of the tour included entering a room full of herbs used in the blending process.

The entire process is long and involved. Vinegars can age anywhere from 3-10 years. The aging process is to fully infuse the herbs into the vinegar and create more complex vinegar. This whole manufacturing process has been handed down from generation to generation.

After the tour, we were then brought to the tasting room for a special tasting of 5 select vinegars.

Although they make over 50 different blends, we tasted only five –Angels Kissing the Night, Tears of Cleopatra, Balsam of St. Damian, Ficus – the Fig, and Giacomo Casanova. Each vinegar can serve as an apertif and/or has its own health benefits:

Ø Angels Kissing in the Night –try it as an apertif as an addition to champagne or with cheese or ice cream!

Ø Tears of Cleopatra –use as an apertif with oyster, mushrooms, dates, gigs, and spicy cheeses!

Ø Baslam of St. Damian – enhances healthy breathing and wellness

Ø Fiscus- the Fig – sinfully delicious with fish, fruit, and cheese

Ø Giacomo Casanova – stimulating apertif that complements fine pastries, pasta, cheese, and seafood

Before each tasting, our tour guide gave a short description of the vinegar and some blending and/or pairing suggestions (champagne and Angels Kissing the Night for example). Each vinegar was then paired with a special treat such as a chocolate or nut. My favorite part was drinking out of the fancy, skinny flute in hand blown glass which I just had to purchase after the tour as well as mini bottles of each of the samples tasted! It was absolutely DELICIOUS!

I continue to have a sip of vinegar each day from one of the bottles for the health benefits😊

Probst!