Saint Emilion and Feather Bikes

The Geo and I finished our tour of the Left Bank of Bordeaux and took the train back thru the city and then over to the town of St Emilion on the Right Bank. Before we left, we went to return the iron horses back to the fly by night place where Geo rented them but surprisingly the place seemingly had closed up shop. However a scrap iron place next store offered to buy them and after some haggling, we managed to get a good price per kilogram.  After weighing them, the guy shook his head and paid us an amount enough to pay for our entire trip 

In any case, we checked in to our nice Airbnb in the center of St Emilion, a really pretty medieval village literally surrounded by vineyards-

We checked into our Airbnb, where the cleaners, who were English, were just finishing up. The owner also was English. We then went next-door to a wine shop where the owner was an Australian. We have yet to meet any Frenchman.  The wine shop marketing message was pretty direct-

The garrulous wine shop owner offered us a tasting of 4 wines which quickly expanded to eight wines and then to 12 wines.  We did three days of tasting in one spot. At one point in the middle of the tasting, however, Geo and the owner began arguing about whether the 2019 or 2020 vintage was better.  The argument became heated and they nearly came to blows-

Fortunately, I intervened in the nick of time and we returned to our marathon tasting. But the end, Geo was slumped over in his chair half asleep.

Today we biked to some beautiful wineries-

At at some they put us to work both with machinery and regarding organic farming-ex

Largely because of his spiffy, World War I German hat, George was put in charge of organizing a barbecue for  all the vineyard workers

The bikes we rented were great.  After the tanks of the Left Bank, they felt like they were made of feathers.

We got back to St E just as it started to rain. A good day 

The Casr Iron Horse

 As I mentioned in last post, Geo seems to have dug up these former Soviet WWII tanks that  have somehow been converted into bicycles.  Sort of. The only thing they’re missing From the old T34  tank is the 75 mm canon.  He found them amidst this stuff - 

  But they were a deal.  

So not easy to get started but impossible to stop going downhill. We had to go around some bridges because of the weight limits.  I was afraid if we got hit by a bus that we would total the bus. 

We might have been better off with these-

In any case, we toured wineries on the left bank of Bordeaux the past 2 days. Our preference in Chateau seemed to vary. Here are a couple of typical ones I booked-

And a few that Geo arranged or where he got us reservations at reduced prices-

 Certainly a warm welcome at the last  

But we had a lot of fun touring a lot of the different wineries and took pictures of some really spectacular chateau ((none of which we were actually admitted

Geo did find

Geo did find a nice size magnum that fit our drinking style-

Sometimes our rides did seem a bit Quixotic though-

  The tours were enjoyable for the most part and taught us a good deal about the wine making process- 

I believe they use the Egg to add protein to the wine. Very healthy.

We split up on the rerun ride from Margaux ueso and, well given my navigation skills it was a bit unsurprising that I got lost on the way home. That added an extra 8 miles to my ride, but on the Cast iron Bike, no problem.

I thought we were sleeping here but actually not-

Bros K bike Bordeaux

 I am sure Dosteeski had us in mind when writing his epics. I think he had a sequel in mind. Unfortunately the Goode die young.

We arrived in Bordeaux on Saturday and toured of the city.  We met Montaigne But he had a little to say it appeared frozen in time.

We then strolled about the city which appeared fairly deserted

We were early, but then sat down to lunch with a few of our new friends

Looked like a Costco designed picnic.  

We did enjoy some of the city’s  interesting monuments, and sites-

And found place where you could get a life time supply of olives-

We took these trims everywhere in Bordeaux. Gio almost got hit by one, but. I cautioned him to watch himself in the future after the tram gone by.  His awareness seem to improve after that incident.

Within headed out to Pauillac on the left bank where we would start our biking and wine tasting on Sunday.  Pauillac is about 25 miles north of the city of Bordeaux.

Gia was in charge of renting the bikes and assured me it was all under control. He said he had found a great deal on these bikes. It was strange place  where we picked them up.-

They seemed unusually heavy but the Bike guy assured us these were great bikes.  In fact, there were the heaviest bikes I’ve ever seen.  Perhaps they were built in the old Soviet Union. Geo said they’ll be fine so long as we travel light but I’m not so sure. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

Ushgali and wrap up

 I finished my 4 day, roughly 45 mile, trek through the Caucasus Mountains in the small UNESCO designated village of Ushgali. It was a rainy 8 mile walk mostly on the road. I walked a good deal of it with a  nice young Danish couple who were quite interested in U.S. politics.  They asked me whether I thought Trump was a danger to democracy and whether abortion was now banned in many US states. I said ”no” to the first and then asked them what was the abortion law in Denmark (they said abortions were mostly banned after 12- 18 weeks or so). When I told them that abortion on demand with no time limit was the law in some US states (e.g. Mass, Calif, NY), they were incredulous tho they described themselves as in the center politically.  They truly were shocked by my statement as what they heard from the Danish media seemed different.  Huh.  Picture of this nice Danish couple below 

The village of Ushgsali is famous for its medieval Svaneti towers-

Some Georgian establishments don’t look like much but have solid neon signs nevertheless-

You gotta love the "Sweet Home" sign.  

There seem to be Danes everywhere in the Caucasus Mountains. Perhaps a 21st century Viking invasion, albeit without long boats. I gave a lift back to Tbilisi to my 2 young (28 years old) Viking hiking friends and quite enjoyed their lively company which I found more to my taste than one young, mostly humorless Frenchman I encountered at my guesthouse in Adishi.  The Danes were not so fond of the French saying the first thing the guy would probably do when he returned to France was go on strike. 

Had dinner with the Danes in Tbilisi as well.  They were about 6'3" with maybe 1% body fat between them. 

Good news- they may be coming to a lake house near you next year. 

Did a wine tour and a visit to a famous church high in the Caucasus Mountains. The church is supposedly the highest Eastern Orthodox Church in the world at about 8000’-

Evidently You have to be multi skilled to be a monk at the church and good at adapting old coke bottles-

The tour to get to the church and Mt Kazbegi took us by some impressive scenery, a Russia- Georgia “Friendship Monument" (now a bit in abeyance after a few wars), and some old churches and villages 

I really wanted one these shepherds hats-

This “Kaz Burger” place looked strangely familiar-

Looking north to Russia only 7 km (4 miles for you Americans) away-

The trip to the primary wine region of Georgia- Khaketi- was fun as it included some bread making methods if you don’t have a bread making machine- 

Apparently they have heard of Sam’s wife here-

And our minibus driver was apparently a fan of some obscure English car show-

A few final pictures of this beautiful and fascinating country that truly does feel like it is at a cross road of the world-

Kind of a tight squeeze if you are a mason building defense towers-

View from my guesthouse in Mestia (poles are ski lifts) where I started my trek to Ushgali-

My fine guesthouse in Mestia below, albeit missing a few stones in the upper floor-

I met people from all over the world while hiking and touring in Georgia- Denmark, UK, France, South Africa, Serbia, Israel, Guatemala, Russia,  Egypt, Australia, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Spain, Romania and probably some others that I have forgotten. It was a fascinating trip through an extraordinary country.  At a lunch on a tour, they asked us to give toasts and I gave a toast to the Georgian love of freedom and to their country's survival, notwithstanding their juxtaposition to much larger countries and their being subject to many invasions- e.g. Greek, Roman, Mongolian, Persian, Russian-  over the centuries.  Quite the country.  That's all from Georgia!