Wine and Spirits Travel

When I was in New York City recently I had the pleasure of staying at The Carlton Hotel and visiting the new Salon Millesime .  It was a too short visit, but enough to make me want to come back. I pulled up to The Carlton and gave my name to the valet only to get the instant reply, “We’ve been waiting for you Ms. Frost.”  There’s no doubt that The Carlton is that kind of luxury, but it’s transitioned nicely into the 21 st century.  The lobby is has been transformed with a modern flare and the rooms are also contemporary, with the convenience of free high speed internet and the luxury of flat screen televisions and Molton Brown toiletries.  There’s a 24 hour fitness center on the premises so you don’t have to venture out to Madison Avenue unless you want to. Salon Millesime is downstairs at The Carlton Hotel and it’s one of the most unusual spots to hit Manhattan in awhile.  The earth tones are warm and welcoming and the atmosphere seems to take you back to a neighborhood of lo

I didn’t want to put a damper on my wonderful trip through Burgundy and Champagne, but there were a couple of glitches because of the strikes in France.  This was mostly apparent as we prepared to head home.  For the first time since I began to drive, there were long lines at gas stations and many were closed all together.  The trains were running sporadically and we never got to use Rail Europe at all.    In order to get back to Paris on the final day, we had to leave the hotel in Bourgogne at 3:30 am.  Veronique of Burgundy Tourism generously got up and drove us the three and a half hours to Charles De Gaulle Airport.  The lines were long and we were, understandably tired, but my Air France flight took off on time and I had a pleasant trip home. I want to thank those who made this trip possible and are available to anyone who would like to do a similar trip, French Tourism and the tourist boards of Champagne-Ardenne (Sarah was especially helpful) and Burgundy , as well as my

The final day in Burgundy wasn’t exactly how it was supposed to be.  The cold weather and rain did not ease up and our plan to bicycle around the canal needed to be scrapped.  But the day was still filled with new adventures, thanks to our friends, Anna from the French Tourist Board and Veronique from Burgundy Tourism. Our first stop of the day was at the castle of Ancy le Franc .  Honestly, my initial response was, “another castle?”  but I have to admit that every one we have seen has had a personality of its own.  This one in Ancy le Franc was beautiful and was set up more like a museum than a castle, with endless artwork and detail to the architecture.  It had its own private chapel and royal apartments.  Despite the fact that this castle is very much in France, its influence is very Italian.  It was first built in the 16 th century and received some additional renovations – like a new library and a dining room with Italian marble walls – in the 19 th century.  The grounds,

I thought I had seen it all when – on my last day in the Champagne region --  we visited talking robots and a Champagne Bar in the trees, but there was something even more unusual to see and it is called Guedelon . Burgundy is filled with castles, but none like Guedelon .  The weather continued to be cold and there seemed to be a bit of rain following us .   This mud-producing climate wasn’t exactly what you wanted when you were visiting a construction site and that’s exactly what Guedelon was, only this site was missing your usual tractors, electrical equipment and safety nets.  This was a construction site for a castle, more specifically, a castle built in the 13 th century. The Guedelon project began in 1995 when Michel Guyot, who already owned a castle in Yonn, had the idea to build this one in Treigny the same way the Medieval workers did it.  He banished anything that wasn’t used in the 13 th century and spent two years gathering the support and permits from France.  He e