TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

Blogging dry spells are over. Well, the reason why I have been in hiding for the past few days was... I have been extremely busy, career wise, and I guess for the better =) So now that the hurdles have been eliminated and everything has settled down, I can now move on and go back to blogging daily about travels--I hope. Will definitely resume this weekend.

For this Napa Valley side trip, I was not fussy about doing a wine tasting information overload tour by an intimidating sommelier. And I didn’t care if I am not able to visit a wine cellar and taste the winery's the vintage of all wines. I’m actually reserving a trip for this separately in Dordogne, France in the fall, which would be perfect as it will be harvest time. But that’s still long down the road. What I really wanted to do in Napa Valley is to sit in an outdoor terrace, drink a glass of red and unwind while relishing the beautiful Californian vineyard panorama. Ever since living in Europe and working in demanding jobs, I have learned to literally steal and appreciate the little moments of pleasure, relaxation and pampering during weekends and holidays, and even when the sun is shining. We call this the ‘bourgondisch leven’ here in the Netherlands, a lifestyle patterned from the people of Burgundy; the Imperial and French Burgundian dukes once ruled the country during th...

It has always been our penchant to wander away from the normal route when travelling. Like with the Silverado Trail that we initially didn’t know of, it was gamble for us to take this quieter route of Napa Valley that proved otherwise to be a lovely road with stunning vineyard and mountain views. So far our Napa Valley experience cannot be any better. I came here to see the vineyards and I am in the middle of it. Anyway, while we were driving east of St. Helena on the Silverado Trail to the direction of Calastoga, we came to a fork and we were faced to decide which route to take — shall we continue on the Silverado Trail or take this detour? Our instincts tells us to go down the less beaten path so we turned right to the smaller winding road. We were not really sure where this road will lead us to but we were quite curious what lies on the other side of the hills. And look what we’ve found? Lake Hennessey Grotere kaart weergeven The area is so tranquil and a little drop on the...

Since we did not find the Napa Tourism Office we had to make use of what is available to us. Luckily, we have two Napa winery brochures that we picked from the hotel, and as I was studying the trivial map with very little information on it, I noticed a side road with a ‘Silverado Trail’ note beside it. The road is parallel to the main highway, St. Helena and there was no additional explanation describing what the trail is all about except that my hunches are on radar high alert... and usually I am right. As it is, most if not all of the advertised wineries offering package wine tasting tours on brochure leaflets distributed in hotels in San Francisco are located on St. Helena road. This doesn’t need a PhD to clearly understand that this hints mass tourism. I simply did not like the idea that everyone is going to the same place. I wanted something subdued, more refined, and moreover, I wanted to explore Napa Valley from the road less travelled. Thus, back to my hunches and without fur...

Expatriation to the Netherlands (for a colleague, inter-company transfer) brings you warm welcome with lots of booze, Dutch style =). As I had to drive, I did not drink, as well as I don't really like lukewarm beer anyway. Prefer them chilled or just give me (red) wine please, anytime... For those that do not know, Heineken is a Dutch brand. April 2011 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Napa is not very far from San Francisco, about less than an hour’s drive north which is a good distance to travel when the need to escape out of the city for a different scenery beckons. I have always been curious about the wine country of California so obviously Napa is part of this holiday’s agenda but before we trek down to the vineyards, let’s stop over at Downtown Napa for sightseeing and lunch. First Presbyterian Church in Downtown Napa. Many Americans are god-fearing and churches in the country still thrive in attendance. On the road here. This is when the roads split to Napa and Sonoma. Downtown Napa fotos... looks a bit lacklustre here... It might be because of the season but Downtown Napa looking very much like a tinselled Disney town reminds me of a spooky lacklustre downtown scene in the Scooby-Doo and Shaggy animation series. There were very few people on the streets, and interestingly, many stores were closed, the place felt like its one of those gone-are-the-glor...