{"id":1902,"date":"2021-07-30T13:38:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T13:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1902"},"modified":"2021-07-30T13:38:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T13:38:16","slug":"visiting-france-visiting-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1902","title":{"rendered":"Visiting France, Visiting California"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you, like us, are from the East Coast, getting to either California or France is roughly the same hassle.\u00a0 Once you have to get to the airport and wait for your plane, the difference between a six-hour and an eight-hour flight is not all that big a deal.\u00a0 However, when you get off the plane in California, you\u2019re still in the USA.\u00a0 Everybody speaks your language and most things, aside from the vineyards, are just like home.\u00a0 You can\u2019t say that about a trip to France.<\/p>\n

If the only purpose of your trip is wine tasting, the overall experiences of the two sectors of Wine Country are roughly equivalent.\u00a0 The most famous regions \u2013 Napa\/Noma, Burgundy, Paso Robles, Bordeaux, Santa Barbara, the Rhone Valley \u2013 will offer you many wines you might have heard of, if not already tasted.\u00a0 While California has some out-of-the-way wine producing areas, such as Temecula<\/a> or Amador County<\/a>, wine is made almost everywhere in France.\u00a0 And some of the less familiar locales, including Alsace, Beaujolais and the Languedoc<\/a>, make world-class wines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lyon is known as the culinary capital of France.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s when you want to do something other than tasting wine tasting that France excels.\u00a0 Yes, we love San Francisco and Los Angeles but they\u2019re not Paris or Lyon.\u00a0 There are few if any California experiences that can top a stroll along the Seine or eating onion soup at a sidewalk caf\u00e9.\u00a0 Of course, it helps if you can speak French but honestly, it\u2019s not essential.\u00a0 Most French people can and will speak English.\u00a0 They have the reputation for being arrogant and snobbish (as do New Yorkers) but we\u2019ve never experienced any problems. (The nose in the air attitude of Parisian waiters is as much a part of the show as anything else.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Big Sur.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.<\/em><\/p>\n

California and France both have attractions when it comes to natural beauty.\u00a0 There\u2019s an unmistakable charm to the French countryside. The grandeur of some parts of California are matchless.\u00a0 The French Alps are stunning and Big Sur, Yosemite and the redwood forests are treasures.\u00a0 Centuries of wars have left scars across France; earthquakes and fires have done the same in California.\u00a0 If you\u2019re travelling to see marvelous scenery (in addition to wine tasting, of course) both will offer you more than you can take in on any one trip.<\/p>\n

You can get memorable meals in California.\u00a0 French Laundry and Spago are temples of gastronomy.\u00a0 But France!\u00a0 Yes, the French are justly famous (or infamous) for small portions of unknown ingredients with rich sauces.\u00a0 But there\u2019s hardly a village in the whole country where you can\u2019t get a perfectly roasted chicken that you\u2019ll remember forever.\u00a0 We mentioned onion soup, but did we tell you about p\u00e2t\u00e9?\u00a0 Or cheese?\u00a0 Or cassoulet?\u00a0 Or, or, or?\u00a0 On the other hand, if you\u2019re in the mood for Mexican, Chinese or Japanese cuisine you\u2019re going to do much better in California.<\/p>\n

Altogether, it\u2019s an individual decision as to which makes a more desirable vacation.\u00a0 If you feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings, choose California.\u00a0 If you like the exotic, France is a better choice.\u00a0 We\u2019re in the latter category, but then we speak French.\u00a0 Either direction, you\u2019ll taste great wines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you, like us, are from the East Coast, getting to either California or France is roughly the same hassle.\u00a0 Once you have to get to the airport and wait for your plane, the difference between a six-hour and an eight-hour flight is not all that big a deal.\u00a0 However, when you get off the … Continue reading Visiting France, Visiting California<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1905,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions\/1905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}