I'd never pay you Tuesday or any other day
While driving back from France we decided to stop and get some petrol (that's British speak for gas) and some food. The only thing that was really open was a Wimpy hamburger restaurant. I had seen these around the UK and had always wondered what they were like. I wish I had kept on wondering. The hamburger I had was quite possibly the worst thing that I have ever eaten. The only reason I have included the link is so that you know what to look out for. So, visitors to the UK be warned, no matter how hungry you think you are, you are probably not hungry enough to eat a Wimpy burger.
For those not understanding the title to this post click here. You might want to click even if you do understand the title.
Bubbly Anyone?
OK, so this post is a little out of order since we went to France before Spain, but I forgot to take the computer to France.
Anyway, at the end of August, Yankee Girl and I went to the Champagne region of France with the Yankee parents. Pictured above is a photo of all of us at the Piper-Heidsieck tasting room. Heidsieck is pretty cool. They have a ride that takes you through the cellars and caves and gives you an audio tour, which includes the history of PH champagne (it's like 
Disneyland for winos). The picture to the left is of the chalk caves which have been carved out in the shape of grapes.
Some of the other Champagne houses that we visited were (with links):
Veuve-Clicquot , Taittinger , Pommery
For those interested in more, this LINK will take you to a site listing almost 300 Champagne Houses.
While in Reims, we took a day and drove out into the country to see some of the vineyards. Eventually we arrived in Epernay. Epernay is the home of Moet & Chandon (we also have pictures of us with Mr. Perignon if you want to see them) and Perrier-Jouet.
On the way back, we also stopped at this small champagne house which was basically this woman's house. When we walked up, there were just a bunch of people sitting around having a cookout. Unfortunately, none of them spoke a word of English. Fortunately, Yankee Girl speaks a little French, and we all spoke the language of alcohol. We tasted some Champagne and biscuits, and ended up buying 3 bottles of Champagne.
We also stopped by a little Champagne village called Ay. While we were there we found this small Champagne house called Lallier. They only bottle around 200,000 bottles/year, and they only export around 15%. It's good and fairly cheap, so if you manage to find some, I would try it.
These are just some pictures of the French countryside and some pinot noir grapes that we thought were pretty cool.
Check out my "suiteness"
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and a slight SNAFU in the reservation system at the Gran Hotel Gvadalpin Banus, this post comes to you from the private terrace (pictured above) of our deee -luxe suite. And believe me it is sweeeeet! The terrace is on the second floor and comes with its own private hot tub, and overlooks the entire hotel including a great view of the pool and Mediterranean Sea (see below). Something happened to our original reservation, and the place was booked solid, so we were upgraded to a deluxe suite for the same price. What a deal.
Ok well, this post started on the terrace, but it now comes to you from Nottingham. I got distracted by the sun, beach, drinks, hot tub, pool, etc, and neglected to finish it. So anyway, Marbella was wonderful. Sunny and low 80s every day, as opposed to the 60s and rain in jolly ole England. 
To the right is a shot of the sunset as it goes behind the mountains. You'll have to ignore the crane in the foreground. They are doing a lot of construction around where we were staying.
If you ever get the chance to go to southern Spain, I highly recommend it. The weather, food, and accommodations are great. In addition to that, the people actually seem to want you there, as opposed to some of the places we have been where they seem to bothered that you are there trying to spend your money. More pictures and details of the trip will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.
Hola de Espana Soleado
For you non-Spanish speaking readers (or maybe even the Spanish speaking ones depending on my Spanish writing skills), that means "hello from sunny Spain".
For those concerned, Yankee Girl and I arrived safe and sound in Marbella, Spain yesterday afternoon. We are staying here.
Dumpster Diving - The perils of drinking accessories
We just returned from a trip to the Champagne Region of France. While we were there, we picked up a Collar Thermometer from the Piper-Heidsieck shop. A collar thermometer, pictured at right (apologies for my poor photography), is wrapped around the bottle to tell if the wine or champagne is at the correct temperature for drinking.
As you have probably guessed by the title of this post, our collar ended up in the trash. The first time we used it we threw the bottle away without removing the thermometer. It is amazing how you forget about those sorts of things after a bottle or two of wine. Luckily Yankee Girl wanted to show it off to the Yankee Parents, so we discovered it was missing. Fortunately the garbage only gets picked up once a week, so we were able to sift through the dumpster to find it. So remember, the next time you see someone digging through the garbage don't be too disgusted. It might possibly be your drunken friends.
More posts from the trip to France will follow shortly. Right after we return from Spain next Friday.
Whiskey Diet
I saw this card the other day and immediately thought of a former co-worker. I couldn't resist buying it and posting it on here. I figure it has been awhile since he has been given a hard time about a certain 'lost day' of his own.
