curioustravelertravelogues

Wine Talk: Champagne Faucheron Gavroy (Champagne, France)

Posted on May 6, 2018 by juliamenn

Getting to visit a Grand Cru classé Champagne House was definitely the highlight of my brief stop in Champagne, France. Of the 100+ villages in Champagne, only 17 are considered Grand Cru territory, and each year the individual Houses need to prove their Grand Cru worth. I visited Champagne Faucheron Gavroy in Tours-sur-Marne (outside the Champagne centre of Epernay) and was given a tour of the cellars by owner Cathy Faucheron.

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Posted in Europe, Travel, Uncategorized, wine | Tagged bottle, bottle aging, bubbles, Cellar, Champagne, Champagne Houses, chardonnay, disgorgement, Epernay, Europe, Faucheron Gavroy, France, Grand cru, hectares, lees, oak, oak aging, pinot noir, produce, sparkling wine, sur lie, tour, villages, vineyards, wine, wine tour, Winery | Leave a comment

Edoras and the Pelennor Fields

Posted on April 25, 2018 by juliamenn

Ok, this is going to be a full on geeky fangirl post. I’ve already shared quite a bit about visiting Lord of the Rings film sites, and there was NO WAY I was going to miss two of the biggest, most iconic sites of them all! Namely, Edoras, home of the Horse Lords of Rohan, and the Pelennor Fields, renowned for some epic battle sequences.

Edoras and the Golden Hall

Rohirrim about to enter the fray at the Pelennor Fields

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Posted in new zealand, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged battle, canterbury, david wenham, death, edoras, eowyn, golden hall, horse lords, lord of the rings, lotr, mount sunday, new zealand, pelennor fields, peter jackson, props, ringwraith, rohan, rohirrim, sword, tour, twizel, twizel tours | Leave a comment

Queenstown Letdown and Discovering Mount Cook

Posted on April 11, 2018 by juliamenn

From Wanaka, I made my way down to Queenstown, Tourist Central and Home of Adventure Sports such as skiing, boating, sky-diving, and a really big swing. Before I got there, I took a brief detour to Arrowtown, a small village outside of Queenstown, where a few LotR scenes were filmed (Arwen and the Ringwraiths confrontation at the river, and in the extended edition of Fellowship, the surprise attack on Isildur). Like in Wanaka, Autumn colours were rampant and absolutely stunning. I had lunch and a delightful walk-around the town and along the river. Continue reading →

Posted in new zealand, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged adventure sports, amisfield, aoraki, arrowtown, arwen, avalanche, burger, chenin blanc, fergburger, film location, glacier, lord of the rings, lotr, mount cook, mountain, new zealand, queenstown, river, sky diving, south island, tourist, trek, wine, wine tasting | Leave a comment

2018: The Year of Positivity

Posted on February 2, 2018 by juliamenn

My word for 2018 is Positivity, and I’ve learned quickly that this year needs to be approached differently than years past if I want to see any growth and self-improvement. Continue reading →

Posted in Musings, Uncategorized | Tagged 2018, complain, emotions, feelings, gratitude, gretchin rubin, happiness, inspirational, Meditation, opportunity, positivity, self care, should, suicide, susan david, ted talk, the happiness project, therapist, want, wish, word | 2 Comments

A Brief Service Announcement

Posted on December 16, 2017 by juliamenn

It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure I proudly present my latest itinerary on this crazy crash-bang, whirlwind adventure of mine… Continue reading →

Posted in china, Ireland, Thailand, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged Adventure, chengdu, china, hangzhou, Ireland, levitate, maglev, new year's eve, nye, opportunity, seal, seal rescue ireland, shanghai, Thailand, train, Travel, volunteer | Leave a comment

A Brief Sojourn in Wanaka

Posted on December 14, 2017 by juliamenn

Maybe it’s because the weather cleared up, maybe it’s because the Fall colours were on full display, maybe it’s because I FINALLY got to do some adventure sports – but I freaking LOVED Wanaka!

#ThatWanakaTree

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Posted in new zealand, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged aerobatics, aeronautics, aeroplane, airplane, anxiety, church, cocktail, comfort zone, easter, empath, fall, fly, flying, nature, new zealand, snoopy, soul, south island, that wanaka tree, trick flying, u-fly, wanaka, wine tasting | Leave a comment

Wet on the West Coast

Posted on October 28, 2017 by juliamenn

What’s the first thing that springs to mind when I say West Coast? Ok, probably California. But, unlike that warm, sunny, American expanse, the West Coast in New Zealand is generally referring to the section on the South Island along Highway 6 – from Kahurangi National Park all the way down to Mount Aspiring National Park. Renowned for its glaciers, mountains, national forests, and, of course, coastal views, I’m sure it was very nice, except for the fact it rained. Every. Freaking. Day. Which, ok, I admit it is exposed to the sea, so, you know, weather. But seriously! Buckets of rain all the time. And misty drizzles when it wasn’t pouring. I’d greatly wanted to go heli-hiking on Franz Josef Glacier, but it kept getting cancelled due to the weather. Eventually I just moved on because there was no forecasted break in the monotonous rain.

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Posted in new zealand, Uncategorized | Tagged aoraki, fish and chips, fox glacier, franz josef, glacier, haast, hiking, hokitika, lake mathieson, mt cook, mt tasman, new zealand, rain, rainbow, south island, the craypot, walk, weather, West Coast, wet | Leave a comment

Let Me Count the Ways

Posted on October 22, 2017 by juliamenn

As I’ve mentioned, unfortunately my work visa for New Zealand didn’t pan out, and the past month and a half has been an utter whirlwind as I tried to sort out my path forward. I was waking up every morning with a knot of anxiety so bad it made me want to vomit.

ANZAC Memorial

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Posted in new zealand, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged air asia, airport, auckland, Change, china, currency, flights, fly, hong kong, insurance, life, lifestyle, moving, new zealand, nz, passport, plan, question, sell, solo female travel, transferwise, Travel, visa, wellington, work | 2 Comments

Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass

Posted on October 15, 2017 by juliamenn

The day after seal watching was dedicated to soaking at Hanmer Springs – a hot springs facility outside of Christchurch. I got an $11 ticket from a deals website (either grabone or bookme, I think) and spent the entire, rainy day basking in the naturally fed pools. As it was overcast, I didn’t even have to worry about getting sunburned!

I spent the weekend on a friend’s sheep station outside of Christchurch; relaxing, exploring, and drinking a fair bit of wine.

Another glass gone

I came across quite a number of sheep skulls on the station

I rode a gd penny farthing!

NZ’s mural game is on point!

Fennel fields overlooking the ocean

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Posted in new zealand, Uncategorized | Tagged 185 white chairs, akaroa, arthurs pass, butterflies, cardboard cathedral, castle hill, cathedral, christchurch, earthquake, hanmer springs, hot springs, limestone, loss, lyttelton, memorial, monarch, Mountains, road trip, rock climbing, rocks, Sheep, simpsons, springfield, tragedy, wine | Leave a comment

South Island Road Trip: Part 1

Posted on October 7, 2017 by juliamenn

There was a lot of driving done on South Island, and I’d say half of it was because, “Well, I have time, so I’m going to take this several hour long side trek to see whatever’s there.” I zig-zagged back and forth across the island multiple times in this fashion; simply exploring waterfalls, beaches, seal colonies, big rocks, star gazing, mountain spotting, glacier hiking, lighthouses, things of that nature. Anything that piqued my curiosity (and wasn’t too difficult) got a look. (There were some LOTR filming locations and a Blue Lake I’d heard about, but as they required 12hrs to 2 days hiking in mountains to get there, I uttered several resounding “Fuck that”s)

Driving in NZ is never boring!

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Posted in new zealand, Uncategorized | Tagged beach, cape foulwind, colony, drive, iphone, lake, lake rotoiti, lake rotoroa, new zealand, pictures, road trip, sand flies, seal, south island, st arnaud, sunset, walk, West Coast, wildlife | 1 Comment

curioustravelertravelogues

Wine Talk: Champagne Faucheron Gavroy (Champagne, France)

Edoras and the Pelennor Fields

Queenstown Letdown and Discovering Mount Cook

2018: The Year of Positivity

A Brief Service Announcement

A Brief Sojourn in Wanaka

Wet on the West Coast

Let Me Count the Ways

Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass

South Island Road Trip: Part 1

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