Roaming Reims

Our last stop before Paris was Reims.

Just like how Beaune is in the Burgundy regions and they have the largest wineries, Reims is in the Champagne region of France. 

Reims is a small city that holds a lot of history.

Out of all the Cathedral's I've visted in Europe I have to sat the Notre Dame in Reims was one of my favourite.
The architecture and the attention to detail was amazing.

Another historical landmark in Reims is the La Potre de Mars, whcih is the widest arch in the Roman World.

And of course you know I couldn't go all the way to the Champagne region and not taste any champagne.
So We headed to Taittinger to learn about their strong history of wine and champagne making, and we also go to go down to their sellar where they have champagne bottles dated back to the 1700's.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Mustering Through Dijon

Another city we stopped at, on our way to Paris is the City of Dijon.

The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word Dijon, is Dijon Mustard, and that's exactly where I was. the beautiful City of Dijon, is the motherland of delicious Dijon Mustard, they eat it with everything, you can even get little packets of it at burger joints in the city.

In Dijon, you'll see these little owls on the ground, make sure you follow them. Their the symbol of the city, and they act like your own personal tour guide. They all have numbers on them, and if you follow them they'll bring you to all the tourist attractions in the city. The Owls will end you off at the Dijon Cathedral, where if you strike the owl with your left hand it will lead to good luck.

Minus the bad weather, Dijon is a beautiful vibrant city, and If you ever get a chance to go make sure to check out one of the many Dijon Mustard stores, to bring back home as a souvenir.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Discovering Beautiful Beaune

So it's getting close to the end of out trip, and where making our way to Paris where most of us take our flight back home.

On our road trip to Paris, on of the stops we make is the City of Beaune. Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy, so for all my wine lover, you should take a trip down here, and it's also a very cute little town.

Since we arrived on a Sunday, like most of Europe most things were closed, and we were only staying one night, so we decided to take a walk and discover this small little town.

While in Beaune we stayed at Hostellerie de Brentonniere, which is a barn turned into a hotel, it's very cute.

"The largest wineries in Burgundy"

If you ever find yourself in Beaune and you need somewhere to eat, make sure you check out Le Carnot. It's a Brasserie, which is like a bar/pub, where you can get great food at reasonable price, and just as great desserts. Also, since Beaune isn't far from the city of Dijon, you can get a lot of Dijon Mustard, which is why I recommend the burger, trust me you'll thank me later.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Beautiful Barcelona! Part 2

On our second day of being in Barcelona, we decided to  try and find the beach. Even though it was to cool to go swimming in the ocean, as a Canadian being able to go to a beach in the middle of February is a huge thing so we headed out and started walking.

While heading to the beach we stumbled onto so many things.

Luckily for us, we were in Barcelona during their Barcelona Light Festival 2015. during the day they have Fiesta de Santa Eulalia, which is Barcelona's biggest festival for children where they have plays with life size puppets that take up to 5 people for it to work.  Saint Eulalia is a patron of  Barcelona.

As soon as night fall happens, a new parade is started called Firework Small Devils, where little children walk in parades holding fire crackers at an end of a stick parading throw the streets of Barcelona to the sound of bands beating their drums.

It was an experience to watch all of this especially because it was a surprise to us, since we didn't know what was happening.

 Along with being able to see the amazing festivities in Barcelona, we stumbled upon the cities beautiful cathedral, Catedral de Barcelona 

And then we finally made it to the beach!!

It was amazing a beautiful and also weird to be on a beach in the middle of February in Barcelona, Spain in 10 degree weather. IT WAS AWSOME!

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure 

Beautiful Barcelona! Part 1

*sighs* Oh Barcelona, where do I start with you!?
If you don't know where Barcelona is, it's in the amazing country of Spain, in the fabulous continent of Europe.

Since we have some free weekends, for travel. Some of the girls and myself, decided to take a little trip to somewhere where the sun is shining and get out of the cold, so we settled for beautiful Barcelona, Spain.

We decided we wanted to experience a real authentic Barcelona, so instead of staying at a hotel, be decided to rent an apartment, so we heading over to Airbnb, and started to look through all the beautiful apartments until we picked one that was located right off of Av. del Parallel, so we were right in the centre of the city and the Metro was just down the street from us.

   As soon as we got to Barcelona, the first thing we did was go to Plaza Espana Barcelona, which I recommend everyone to go see. It is the heart of the city, you can see Palau Nacional, which is an art museum and also see Barcelona's old bull-fighting ring, which they converted into a mall, you can also pay to take an elevator to the top of the mall or just take the escalators inside the mall to the top and see a beautiful view of the city.

A Taste Like Home

So the other day I was carving a burger, or something that reminded me of North America, Being in Europe for so long has exposed me to so much different types of food, but sometimes you just want something that your familiar with and reminds you of home.

So I set out looking for a nice burger joint or a shawarma shop.

While walking around Strasbourg, I found this cute little burger joint, that didn't blend into the rustic European look of the rest of the block. 

It was light blue with English speaking words and cartoons in the window. So I walked into 231 East Street, a cute little restaurant with Archie comic pictures all over with cute little catch phrases that were in English and reminded me of New York City.

To say 231 East Street was delicious would be an understatement, It was the best burger I've ever had. They even had Cherry Coca- Cola, which isn't available in Canada anymore, so my meal was pretty bomb.

If your ever in France make sure you head to 231 East Street if your looking for a good ole fashion style burger, there a little on the expensive side, but it's worth it, and plus it;s good to help small businesses. 

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Best In Town

Today we got to go to the best restaurant in Strasbourg, France. According to Trip Advisor, La Vignette is #1 out of 1,078 in Strasbourg. Luckily for us La Vignette is only a 20-30 minute walk from the Chateau.

I can now see why La Vignette is rated #1 in the city, it's a beautiful quaint restaurant, where you felt like you were at your grandmothers house.

We started our dinner with a Cream of Mushroom Soup with Croutons in it. I have to say that it was the best Cream of Mushrrom soup I've had, it was so smooth and flavourful.

The Soup was then followed by our main dish, Salmon with diced veggies and red rice with a creamy sauce. I've never has red rice before, but I have to say it will not be my last time, it has so much flavour and it's a whole rice grain so it reminds me of whole grain brown rice. with the salmon and the cream, it was a great combination.

 And for dessert we had Creme Caramel, which isn't my favourite, but it tasted good regardless.
If you ever come to Strasbourg, France you have to go to La Vignette.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Classic Beer

Since we were in Rothaus, Germany, It would be a waste if we didn't go to the Rothaus Brewery for a tour and a taste.

Rothause has been around for 200 years, and is much loved now as it was years ago. Once a small monastery brewery , the brewery is now owned by Rothaus Baden State Brewery.
Because of strict brewing laws in Germany, Rothaus beer is only made of water, malt, hops and yeast.

I've never been to a beer brewery before, so it was cool to see how it was made, and to see how different Rothaus was to there breweries.

After the tour we were able to get a bottle of beer to taste along with a freshly backed pretzel to eat with it.

There were 3 different types of beer we could choose from: Tannenzäpfle, Pils, Eiszäpfle, and the one I had Radler Zäpfle, which has a lemon taste to it.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure