I was pretty sad leaving Paris because I just love that city so much. I had some of my best memories there in college and then again with Phil. I was excited though to leave because our next stop would be in the Beaujolais. As a former French teacher, I taught my students all about the Beaujolais nouveau and how this is such a big thing. Obviously we were there in summer so we missed the festivities, but we were still going to stay in the wine region and we were going to be sleeping in a chateau. I have always had a love for chateaus, I always found them to be so beautiful and I loved the history behind them and how families would pass these homes down through generations. We stayed in a chateau that is now owned by our tour company, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a racy past...
Chateau de Cruix. 8/2014
It was originally constructed by the Sarron family, a notorious family plagued with scandal in the medieval period before being sold to the Bellet family where it remained until 1936 when it was again sold, this time to the Bernard family who sold it in 1955 to a cruise company that used it for their employees before Contiki purchased the property (and pretty much turned it into a party house) in 1980. It was a pretty neat place to walk around, there was even an old chapel on site and the architecture was amazing. It's fairly empty now with bunk beds built out of two-by-fours crammed into rooms that were crappily divided to fit in more people. In it's day though, it must have been something.
I felt okay walking around though you could feel the building's history around you and I am sure it is haunted to some extent. We had windows that would just close on their own. I didn't feel anything sinister there, but Phil did have this weird nightmare about something trying to pull us out of our window as we slept. That night, the window kept rattling even though there was no wind and if you looked at it, it would stop. Creepy!
The views are still amazing. I spent a lot of time outside. It was pretty cold still, but I didn't mind.
Beyond the Chateau. 8/2014
My favorite time though, was at night. It was just so quiet and beautiful. It was beyond romantic to be there despite all of the craziness that other people staying there created, it was simply magical.
Twilight at the Chateau. 8/2014
After we arrived at the Chateau, we were rushed into the cuvage, where we had our first wine tasting of the trip. Beaujolais wine is young wine and it is red. So, if you like red wine this is where you buy it. We bought a bottle for Phil's mom and one for us. We're saving it for our anniversary in January, but every time I look at it sitting on the dining room hutch, I just want to sneak a little sip.
Phil, forever being the star of most things, got volunteered to be in the demonstration of how they cut the grapes from the vines. I really wish I had videotaped it, but I just got pictures:
Phil, the grape man. 8/2014
After the demonstration we had wine and hung out for a little and talked. I also am not big on being in huge groups for very long so I started to wander around and take more pictures. I got some more of the grounds and then the view from our window:
Chateau roses. 8/2014
Beaujolais road. 8/2014
From our window. 8/2014
Afterwards, we made our way down to the dining room for dinner. My birthday is still upcoming so we buy a bottle of white wine (which is also delicious) and we have it with dinner. Then we all sat outside drinking wine and getting acquainted with one another. Looking back our time at the chateau is where we all began to bound as a group. Later that night, Phil and I would get separated. I spent much of the night outside because I was just so in love with being in the wine region while he had a fun time in the chateau's basement that they turned into a club. To me, though, it reminded me of every frat basement party I had ever been to over the course of my time at Rutgers. I was okay in missing that. Kelsey would spend much of the night running into either Phil or me and asking us where the other was. We finally found each other long enough for him to give me our room key and for me to go to bed. He eventually followed.
The next day, we stayed by the pool and just hung out with Kelsey while Ellie went on a hike where it seems everyone got lost doing. At the end of your hike you got a small lunch that they were nice enough to bring back for us. The one thing I did not like about the chateau was how wine fueled it was, but if you were hungry there was no food and there was no place to walk to to buy it. A good portion of our tour was prepaying for food, but Contiki meals sucked. They often were flavorless and insanely small portions especially when they took you to the Chateau where the only meals were their meals and you had to wait for specific meal times to then be fed things that weren't all that wonderful. I would have liked to not have had to pay them any money for food and just bought my own as we went. I also did not like how when you were in a Contiki property, they would pick people to serve the food and to bus the tables, on their vacation that they just paid all of this money to do. I felt especially bad for the people who in real life are servers and were enjoying not having to do that while they were away.
Panorama of the chateau (and Phil). 8/2014
Regardless though, our time there was beautiful and I just loved getting to have that experience as a whole and with Phil. I became very relaxed there and just enjoyed it which was huge for me because coming into our trip, I was totally burnt out from moving and from my job. I really needed to get away and have a fun time with the man I love and we did just that.
Disclaimer: I really love France and Chateaus. I blame Lifetime and Danielle Steel because growing up I saw the Jewels mini-series with Anthony Andrews and thus began my adoration for this place and my dream that one day I would marry a duke...
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