When I boarded the Napa Valley Wine Train they sat me by myself, at a table for two. Bummer! I thought. Wine-tasting is more fun when there's someone to talk to. Then Bao crawled out from under the table, hopped up onto the chair opposite and voila! suddenly everyone on the train wanted to be our new best friend.

Wine. Champagne. Another three-course, gourmet meal. More wine. And unfolding beyond the windows, acres and acres of grape-vines, vivid and green in the sunshine. The nicest part was not having to worry about drinking and driving. I drank. They drove.

One of the vineyards we rolled past was for sale. Fifty acres of flourishing vines, and a dear little house in the middle. What would it be like owning a vineyard, crushing my own grapes and making wine? Bao gave me a worried look. It's only a thought, I reassured him. But isn't it a shame that we only get to live one life? I can think of at least a dozen different lives I would have liked to have lived.

They decanted us at Chandon (as in Moet & Chandon) Napa Valley for a tour and champagne tasting. Of course, we can't call it champagne because it isn't French. Never mind. A bubbly is a bubbly, and these were delightful.

The whole day was delightful.