Our second Fat Tire Retreat last week was for 4 days down in Provence, France. We stayed in a town called St. Remy en Provence, which was about 30min from Avignon. I've never been in this part of France before, and even in January, I found it lovely and would visit again in a second!
Work retreats tend to be more fun than work, although we do have 2-3 hour meeting every day. It's more for the bonding time with the management than anything else. We started each meeting with Fat Tire Family Feud, with Paris and Fat Tire themed questions (my team didn't win :( ). We also had videos filmed with different questions we had all answered.
Day 1: Visit to a truffle farm followed by lunch. I'm not a big fan of the truffle, it's a mushroom and has a strong smell. This visit turned me around and now I think they're great! We got to follow the trained dogs around while they hunted them out and then they were dug up to sell.
Lunch was 5-6 courses of truffle upon truffle goodness. Recovery was a long time.
Day 2: Half the group went on a bike ride through the olive groves while a few of us hiked in the hills and visited Les Baux de Provence. Look it up, it's beautiful. We then went on a guided tour and tasting of an olive oil farm.
Day 3: A tour of the Palais des Papes, where the french popes lived back in the 14th century. It's huge, and gothic, and has an amazing view of Avignon from the towers. We then had a tour of the local market and lunch there with handmade tapenade (another food not high on my list, but handmade is good!).
Our final night finished with a lip sync contest. We were divided up by department into 5 different groups. Mine "sang" Whatta Man by Salt and Peppa, Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler, and Jump Around by House of Pain. The judges gave scores based on accuracy, costume, originality, audience participation, and overall enjoyment. My team made the finals and placed second! We couldn't beat the team from Texas who had a 60 year old accountant shaking it to Taylor Swift. It's tough to top that. :)
So overall, lots of wine and food, lots of fun, and lots of memories. Of course, it's never the same with out family there. I missed them every day and was glad to get home on Friday.
Work retreats tend to be more fun than work, although we do have 2-3 hour meeting every day. It's more for the bonding time with the management than anything else. We started each meeting with Fat Tire Family Feud, with Paris and Fat Tire themed questions (my team didn't win :( ). We also had videos filmed with different questions we had all answered.
Lunch was 5-6 courses of truffle upon truffle goodness. Recovery was a long time.
So overall, lots of wine and food, lots of fun, and lots of memories. Of course, it's never the same with out family there. I missed them every day and was glad to get home on Friday.
Truffle goodness? I always thought they were very expensive (up to $2000/pound for the European ones), but I looked it up and there are Oregon truffles for only a few hundred dollars!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanfoodroots.com/50-states/oregon
Perhaps a field trip on my next visit?
They are very expensive here, at least black truffles. So Oregonmust have a different kind.
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