We had the car for one last day and we reserved it for a day trip out to Napa Valley, the famous wine region in California. Typical tourists, we also made sure we drove on the Golden Gate Bridge. The famous bridge where it is known to always be shrouded in fog and it wasn't much of an exception that day.
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| Gloomy day |
Thankfully once we were out of SF, the traffic was smooth and we arrived in the town of Napa after 1.5h. The drive there was scenic and Napa is a beautiful and clean town, at times felt posh too. I like! We were armed with a small guide book with notes on which wineries to visit, thanks to our Air BnB host, Saana. We went into the Tourist Information Centre and was shown this map of Napa Valley which is a long strip: Napa is on the south and you can drive up one straight highway (the Silverado Trail) and reach other winery towns such as St Helena, Yountville and Calistoga. It happened that all 3 wineries which Saana recommended are near Calistoga which is another hour drive from Napa. The lady was very cute and looked really stressed for us; said we should go this very moment and even gave us tips on how to avoid the highway traffic by veering off to any side roads and joining back again since it's one straight road after all. It felt a bit like the amazing race! Before we left, I asked about the famous 3 Michelin starred restaurant, French Laundry. Not that we were going, but you know, just ask anyway ;) It was too late even if we had that cash to splurge because according to the lady, the wait list is 3 months long. Nonetheless she suggested "Now on the way back, stop at the "Bouchon Bakery" which is owned by the same people… do yourself a favour and get the almond croissant. It is the best croissant ever. This bakery has been voted to be the best in America." Whoa, ok!
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| Before starting our Amazing Race, we had burger and fries for lunch |
We had lunch at this burger place called Gott's Roadside which was really good. K loves burgers in the US. He thinks they are especially juicy, succulent and well made. I chose some sweet potato fries to go along and boy was it good. Also since portions are large in America, we could share a huge burger, a drink and a side, and still feel full. #doublewin
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| A typical vineyard |
Back in the car, we had to plan. We decided to go straight to Calistoga and visit the wineries in this order:
1) Castello di Amorosa
What is special about this place is that it is a 13th Century inspired Tuscan castle and has that wow factor. It was really hot by the time we arrived; we were melting. Despite the heat, we got really excited like the other tourists and started taking pictures, whilst walking to the entrance. Only to find that it was USD 25 per person for the winery/ castle tour. Hmm ok we had to pause a bit here. So this was our thought process: we had 2 more wineries to visit this afternoon and what if it was another USD 25 for each of them? Considering we are both not big on wine. Decisions, decisions. Should we take a gamble and carry on to the other 2, in hope they would be nicer? I mean, this is modelled after an Italian castle, which we are not foreign to, living in Europe (not showing off here, but this was exactly what we were thinking).. finally we decided we would take a gamble. Take photos around the castle would be enough we think!
http://www.castellodiamorosa.com
The next one was just up the road.
http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/our-winery/visit-sterling-vineyards
The ride was 3min short, but good enough :) When we arrived, we were each given a small wine glass to taste their wines.
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| The castle even had a moat around it |
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| Already seeing grapes around the castle |
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| Beautiful place isn't it? |
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| Goofing around. You see part of the castle on the left of the pic hehe |
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| Yup me with a sunflower and the castle |
The next one was just up the road.
2) Sterling Vineyards
This is getting fun. Driving from one vineyard to another. What is special about this place according to Saana is, besides good wine, there is a gondola ride (what we refer to as a cable car back in Singapore) with great views of the surroundings at the start of the tour. Entrance fee was USD 29 per person and we thought we could do this one. Doing the gondola ride sounded pretty special to us.http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/our-winery/visit-sterling-vineyards
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| In the gondola where K said I looked scared. Did I? Nah. |
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| I think he looked more scared! lol |
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| The view from the gondola |
The ride was 3min short, but good enough :) When we arrived, we were each given a small wine glass to taste their wines.
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| Cheers, love |
We started with a crisp and chilled white wine. Considering the hot weather, the cold wine was welcomed. We did the tour at our own pace because there were signs leading us to the next rooms and the next wine stops. Clearly we had to finish our wine at each stop before topping it with other wine. The tour took around 45min and we tasted about 5 to 6 different wines. The last one was a special house wine which is only available at the winery. K loved the taste of it and decided to buy two bottles to bring back to London.
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| Barrels of wine |
and finally, winery #3.
Time was running out because most of them close by 5pm and it was past 4pm. Most of them have a last admission time and so we thought we would try our luck.
3) Clos Pegase
Admittedly we didn't do much of a wine tour here because we would not have enough time. The guy at the shop was friendly and although they were winding down for the day, with another couple doing wine tasting, they said we could do some wine tasting in the shop without doing the full tour. K and I thought we might as well, but since he is driving, I suggested sharing one wine tasting menu between us. It was perhaps USD 15. We both tasted about 5 types of wine. Perhaps it was the rush-ness of it all, it almost felt like we gulped down each of the wine with no much recollection afterwards. Perhaps what I was thinking about was…. would there be enough time to visit the outlet mall back in Napa? At least we said we could check it out, leaving it our last destination for the day. Sheepishly I think it was more the latter.
There is a premium outlet mall in Napa and it closes at 7pm which doesn't give me much time *back to the amazing race mode, baby!*.
K absolutely hates shopping and has not set aside any day to visit any outlet malls in the US, much to my dismay and even our friends are in disbelief. So our agreement was to only visit one if we have the time. I think the "if" time is now here in Napa, even though this outlet is a pretty small one.
We started our drive back down towards Napa and on the way, stopping by at Yountville to visit the bakery. Haven't forgotten about it! My ex colleague who is American raved so much about Yountville, French Laundry (yes that Michelin restaurant; said it is the best steak he has ever tried in his life) and that we HAD to visit this town. Although it was a pretty quick stopover, this quaint little town looks like the perfect picturesque place with all the pretty and colourful flowers lining everywhere. People are relaxing on roadside cafes (no work?), wearing sunnies and well dressed (again, that Napa poshness extends here, maybe even up one notch). I don't think you could find any litter on the streets. I soon saw these two Asian girls posing for photos outside Bouchon Bakery - with their baguettes no less. No joke, they were busy posing with their freshly baked baguettes outside Bouchon. People were staring but they weren't bothered. I soon joined the queue in the small shop, with the smell of freshly backed pastries and bread coming out from the ovens. Bakers were busy at work, kneading dough and what not. Of course I ordered the famous chocolate almond croissant and since I'm already here, why not add a coffee cake and another tart. It wasn't cheap I be honest, but what can you expect if this is the best bakery in America? It must be said that K by this time - perhaps at the thought of shopping on the agenda - was catching a few winks in the car.
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| That is the bakery - very french looking |
https://www.yountville.com
http://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl
http://www.thomaskeller.com/yountville-california/bouchon-bakery
And this concludes my series of blog posts on our honeymoon to California. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as me writing.
It was overall a wonderful trip; our first 2 week consecutive holiday. I hope the drought ends soon in California and Hetch Hetchy reservoir gets back to the water level where it was before. I was glad we chose the "localised" route by staying with Air BnB hosts which made a difference in our experience. We would not forget how kind Colette in LA was to us, and how hip it was, staying with Matt and Saana in the "upcoming neighbourhood a la The Mission" in San Francisco. Also the interesting two nights at the B&B at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Groveland where the owner Don extended his Southern American hospitality and passed on some words of advice to live life with. Did I also mention he used to be in the spy business? Ah and sitting in their garden looking up in the night sky staring into the thousands of stars and the milky way.
Each city and place we visited was very diverse and so different. I enjoyed Sequoia National Park where I felt so tiny walking in the midst of the giant trees. In LA where we enjoyed the beach under the Californian sun and saw waves much higher than us. Oh and getting invited to join the Aztecs in their friendly protest in central LA was quite amusing. Even experiencing the summer heat in Vegas was a first for us - melting at 40deg. And of course not forgetting the majestic Grand Canyon where it is hard to deny the existence of God our Creator.
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