Thanksgiving in CPH, 2009

We had another great expat Thanksgiving celebration with our Copenhagen family at Andy and Heidi's. We ate good food, played guitar hero, and started a new tradition - the Springboki! This drink, named for the South African rugby team the Springbok, is a tasty little shot of peppermint liqueur and Amarula (a South African drink that resembles Baily's). This was the last Thanksgiving celebration for Johan and Karine, as they returned home the following week.

Cathy and Sharon do France and Italy

Cathy and I met October 17 in Paris. We immediately hopped a train to Beaune, where we rented a car and drove to our B&B, which was nestled in the vineyards of the sleepy little town of Villers-la-Fay. We had good maps and found our B&B very easily, and had an unexpected beautiful drive through the vineyards.
We checked into our cozy little home around 6:00 then drove to the nearby village of Nuits St Georges. There we found a little cafe with a friendly owner and had our first French dinner - onion soup, a very large serving of beef bourganion, followed by a cheese course and coffee and brandy. We felt like minor celebrities, as there were 3 or 4 guys at the bar who took turns sitting with us. We didn't speak much French, they spoke no English, but we raised our glasses in toast. Vive la France!
The next day we prowled the Saturday market in Beaune collecting delicacies for a picnic lunch. To complete our picnic, we headed to Dominie Henri Naudin Ferrand to taste some wine. Unfortunately, our good driving karma from the day before had vanished and we got lost on the way and ended up and hour and half late. But they were gracious enough to let us taste some wine and, of course, we bought several bottles. We found a perfect picnic sot on a bluff over-looking the golden vineyards.
After our picnic, we visited the winery of Philippe Amiot (who we had met the night before.) He produces maybe 300 bottles a year and looks like Santa Claus. We got to sample several of his wines in his tiny - and very moldy - wine cellar. We spent about an hour with Philippe, then visited a few more wineries in the area. That evening our host invited us for an aperitif in his private cellar. With broken English and broken French, we managed a conversation over kirs (white wine and local Cassis). Our host recommended a restaurant nearby and it turned out to be the best meal of the trip. I can't tell you what we ate, as the menu was in French and they pretty much told us what to order... but everything was fantastic!
Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful day and hot air balloons sailing low across the valley right outside our window.