Wineing it up in the Beaujolis Wine Region On leaving Paris, we headed out to the Beaujolis wine region for 2 nights at a lovely French chateau. After dinner and a party on our first night, we woke the following morning to a gloriously sunny day. We grabbed picnic baskets and hiked up to what was called "The top of the world". This is a scenic place that has spectacular views over the region. The walk up took nearly an hour but on the way, I passed some of the most gorgeous views of wine plantations and beautiful green French countryside. The walk up was very relaxing until you got past the small town at the bottom of the hill. Then faced with this very steep climb, much steeper than anything I've climber before, I began the ascent. Feeling absolutely exhausted and gasping for water once I reached the top, I initially didn't take in the marvellous views. After some water, I looked up and was blown away by how gorgeous it all was. It was all so green and with the sun shining and the sky so blue, just like a postcard. Sat down and had a lovely picnic up there, eating ham, cheese, salad and baguettes. And of course, some wine completed the meal. After lying in the sun for a while, I climbed down and took a wander through the little town at the bottom of the hill. Then walked back to our chateau where I sat on the grass and read my book for a few hours, just enjoying the views and making the most of the relaxing time that would be all too infrequent on the trip. After dinner, the boys on the tour decided to have a game of soccer. And of course, a group of the girls gathered to watch. This would have to be one of the funniest moments on the trip as we girls decided to cheer exclusively for Nick. Nick was this lovely guy from Detroit who introduced himself as a geek. Regardless of what he thought, he soon became a favourite person on the trip and all of the girls started to look out for him. So we began cheering for him and the gorgeous Joya and Aleece even went so far as to go to the kitchen for oranges to make sure he was fed. It was really very funny but then as the other boys got a little annoyed at the exclusive cheering, we began to cheer for them all, making up nicknames when we couldn't remember their names - Steve was "Seattle" and Michael was "Jersey" (where they were from), Steel became "metal" and other variations. I honestly think that the girls had more fun cheering than the boys did playing. The beaujolis wine region was a lovely few days and allowed time to relax and prepare for the rest of the journey and also, to get to know better some more people on the trip.