{"id":2275,"date":"2023-01-30T19:28:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2023-01-30T19:28:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:28:08","slug":"local-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2275","title":{"rendered":"Local Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whole idea of a vacation is to get away from your everyday life for a while.\u00a0 If you\u2019re from a city or suburbs, then Wine Country is a pretty big change, and if you live amidst the vineyards, it\u2019s not really a vacation to go wine tasting.\u00a0 Still, there are times, even when you want to get away from it all, that a certain amount of reality intrudes.\u00a0 It makes sense to gain a little familiarity with the shops in the region you\u2019re visiting for just those occasions.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Burdge and Associates.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re tasting in Napa Valley or Sonoma County, this isn\u2019t a big deal.\u00a0 There are towns and main shopping routes where you can find everything you need; it\u2019s not the Sahara Desert after all.\u00a0 Of course there are shops in the town of Napa, Yountville and Healdsburg but many of them, if not most, are for tourist items, not necessities.\u00a0 But Trancas Street in Napa and Route 101 in Santa Rosa are long stretches of shopping malls and big box stores.<\/p>\n

So if you need Band-Aids, orange juice or some batteries, there are plenty of shops where you can make these purchases.\u00a0 (A hint for wine tasters on a romantic getaway: There\u2019s plenty of California sparkling wine to be found everywhere, but if you want some real Champagne, you can find it at one of those huge drug stores or in many grocery stores.\u00a0 It\u2019s not so easy in nearby wine shops, which tend to feature the local products.)<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Europe, it\u2019s not quite as easy to find the basic necessities.\u00a0 However, almost every village except the tiniest has a pharmacy, usually indicated by a green neon sign in the shape of a cross.\u00a0 In the larger towns (and cities, of course) one of these pharmacies will be open all night.\u00a0 For many of the other items you might need, look for a tabac<\/em> in France or a tabacchi <\/em>in Italy.\u00a0 As might be expected, these little shops sell tobacco products.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also where you\u2019ll find post cards, stamps, bus tickets, maps, an espresso to start the day and a grappa<\/em> to end it.<\/p>\n

It is also wise to prepare for emergencies.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to go travelling in Wine Country armed with information about nearby hospitals or a doctor or dentist who will see you posthaste.\u00a0 So make sure you know someone who does know or at least the emergency phone number.\u00a0 Of course, it\u2019s 9-1-1 in the United States but it\u2019s 1-1-2 in France, 1-1-8 in Italy, and 0-0-0 in Australia.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good idea to have the number of your host (the hotel front desk or the friends you\u2019re staying with) for some oddball needs.\u00a0 For example, we once had a flat tire while we were tasting in Oakville.\u00a0 Nobody at the winery we were at knew where we could get a new tire quickly, but the hotel concierge was able to help.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always helpful to know where to get a wine stain out of a sports jacket or to find a deli for a picnic or the late night munchies.\u00a0 Or a pizzeria, some therapeutic H\u00e4agen-Dazs, a bathing suit or an essential whatchamacallit.\u00a0 So be prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The whole idea of a vacation is to get away from your everyday life for a while.\u00a0 If you\u2019re from a city or suburbs, then Wine Country is a pretty big change, and if you live amidst the vineyards, it\u2019s not really a vacation to go wine tasting.\u00a0 Still, there are times, even when you … Continue reading Local Shops<\/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\/2275"}],"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=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions\/2278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}