Ok, well I wasn't actually in West Philly this past weekend but my NJ Transit/SEPTA trip to Philly took me past the West Philly stop and of course I had to start humming the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It also took me past the home of Paddington Bear (well the real home is London's Paddington Station, but this is the PA equivalent) and the Scarborough Fair. So why were Nissa and I headed to Philly for the weekend? The Big Red Wine reunion of course.
Big Red Wines were a group of 5 of us from Law School. We started spending time together dining and enjoying wines on the banks of the Seine in Paris during the summer international law program our school hosted at the Sorbonne. Well, with a start like that, wine became a vital part of our get togethers, thus the name. Sadly, this trip was missing Jen (she had the best excuse, her little sister was graduating from medical school!), but Jillian hosted at her fabulous house and Margaret and Paul made it (along with Nissa and myself of course).
First, transport was needed to get to some local vineyards so Margaret and I grabbed a zipcar at the 30th Street Station (beautiful old station by the way) and headed out to Jillian's to make our escape to wine country. Turns out the vineyards of Bucks Country were better then expected, though we only got to visit 3 due to a late start. Most of them have a interesting tasting set up - it's totally self-pour. There is an attendant to be sure you don't abuse the privilege and to answer questions about the various wines but there is a line of about 20 bottles from dry to sweet in front of you and you can just keep pouring until you are ready to move on. We tasted about 10-16 wines at each place unlike the 3-8 wines typical in the Finger Lakes region. Margaret kindly DDed, so we could all indulge. We found a few worth buying and headed back to Philly to start our band, a Beatles Tribute band.
We grabbed food to go near Jillian's where they had the AC cranked so high we all turned into ice cubes and needed to put the heat on from the drive back to Jillian's. Jillian had saved a nice bottle of Hermann J. Wiemer's (one of my favorite vineyards) Pinot Niors which was great with dinner then off to the Wii for the Beatles. Turns out she has a drum set, two guitars and three microphones so we are able to rock out together for hours while enjoying the better wines from our trip to the vineyards. We even reached Jen on the phone so we could serenade her with a resounding rendition of "With A Little Help From My Friends." Exhausted and hoarse, we headed to the many bedrooms available and woke ready for mimosa's and brunch in Philly.
We headed downtown to dump the zipcar and went to the Continental for brunch, were it was sunny enough to sit outside so Nissa could join us. Then I dragged everyone to a gourmet doggy store to Nissa some cookies and Paul found a nice mug with a picture of his Australian Shepard on it for his wife. Then we meandered around to enjoy the nice weather and parks in Philly before returning to the start of all our adventures - the 30th Street Station. Jillian and Margret headed off for their trains and Paul and I took of for the North - NYC and Boston.
Sadly, the George Washington Bridge took us captive for many hours to travel about 7 miles but we made it to the city and Paul had clear sailing (though late) the rest of the way to Boston.
All though this adventure is over, I am already looking forward to Big Red Wines second reunion this fall - hosted by yours truly here in the Big Apple. Now where should I drag everyone?
Quote of the Post:
What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
- The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends"
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