The day after we arrived in San Francisco, we decided to drive to Napa Valley and spend the day there. Napa Valley is situated north of San Francisco and it took us about two hours to get there. We visited this region back in 2005, when we honeymooned in Sonoma (Sonoma is just west of Napa Valley). Napa Valley is known as California's premier wine district and there are many wineries all around this region. The day we went to Napa Valley, it was a little overcast at times and grey, but we still managed to enjoy the beautiful scenery and views.
Yountville
Our first stop in Napa Vally was in the quaint town of Yountville. Yountville has the unofficial title of "Culinary Capital of Napa Valley". This is due in part to the presence of the American Culinary Institute's California campus in nearby St Helena, and also a number of world class chefs and restaurants in this area. The most notable of these is Thomas Keller and his 3-Michelin star restaurant called "The French Laundry". If you want to eat at this restaurant you have to book months in advance, but it is definitely not a cheap night out, as his 14-course tasting menu will set you back in excess of $USD 300 per person. We took the cheap option and instead of eating at The French Laundry, went to Thomas Keller's equally renowned bakery called "Bouchon". Not surprising, but the line-up was out the door and we had to wait for about 20 minutes before we could get into the small bakery. We bought a brioche to share and also a beautiful lemon tart. Both were very good.
We spent the remainder of the day driving around Napa Valley where we visited a couple of wineries. David and I didn't do any wine-tasting, but we did enjoy the scenery and the different settings of each winery.
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