Auberge Champenoise Épernay

We worked our way all the way up to Reims, the heart of the Champagne region. While Reims does have a pretty cool cathedral and I'm sure there is some historic stuff, we came for the champagne. We followed the Rue de Champagne down through all the little towns and Epernay. Then as was our luck, the Salon de Vins festival was taking place, so over 250 vintners from all over France were there to let us taste (and buy) their best. Some ...

... a premier cru! The next tour you’ve probably heard of, Taittinger, was a bit more "factory-like" and repeated much of the same information we’d heard previously. They only gave us one sample of the cheapest bottle on the menu. The comparison may be best described with a beer analogy, Budweiser versus a locally brewed beer with limited distribution. My recommendation for anyone reading this who visits the champagne region is to take one tour ...

... Canadian Bar. The Moose we were told plays Gator games often and in anticipation for the upcoming game on Saturday, Angela and I wanted to make sure. We went in for one beer but after talking with the (English speaking) bartenders and meeting a few people we had a couple more rounds. We got home around 3am which would explain my headache the next morning, however please don't mistake this as a complaint because Angela and I did not pay a cent for the drinks ...

... Abbey's vineyard while it was under his stewardship. Although he has been erroneously credited with being the founder of champagne he must have done something right to get his statue placed just outside the Champagne House.

After tasting a few glasses of champagne after our tour it was off back into the countryside to start to make our way back to Calais and then finally England. We meandered along the country roads and found a ...

... onto the highway was crawling, and continued to crawl for several more minutes once we were on the highway.

We did eventually hit the speed limit and at our second or third toll booth, mom realized one of her wallets was missing. Luckily she had separated her many currencies into different wallets and the one missing was the one with a little bit of Canadian money. Unluckily it also ...

I think I might have paid on average 4-7 euros a glass of champagne. This was nothing compared to the 14 euros for a tour of the all fabulous and luxurious Moet cellars.

Kept at a temperature of between 10 and 12°C, champagne goes through a long process before being put on the shelves at your local supermarket.

It was really interesting to see the ...

... looking for some items for lunch. Julian had also been disappointed that his near-new suitcase was failing rapidly, so we looked at a suitcase shop that was having a sale and ended up buying a replacement case. Angela continued buying supplies while Julian returned to the hotel to transfer belongings from the old case to the new. The hotel was happy for Julian to leave the old case in their left-luggage area - we weren't sure that they ...

Well after some false starts and little effort to get the travel blog started, here it is; Currently in the Champagne region in France where they make...you guessed it. Prior to this little haven we spent a couple of days touring Somme WWI memorial sites, in particular those with Australian signficance. We also managed to visit Heilly Station Cemetery where Private Richard Hume of the Australian Imperial Force ...

... at a Michelin starred restaurant (one of the only one's open in Paris in August). - A nice walk through the vineyards (we probably weren't really supposed to be there, but that's beside the point) Lowlights: - Having to drive (and so not drink champagne continuously) Aha's / Interesting notes: - A restaurant that was truly all about meat. (Picture of me with the victims of some previous patron's dinner) Commentary: Hmm, enough said above.

... set off out of Epernay to make our way to Ambonnay mostly along the canal. The rain did not let up for most of the way so by the time we arrived in Ambonnay we were absolutely saturated. In terms of scenery it was a nice ride but hard at times due to the rain. We arrived in Ambonnay (a 1 Tabac Village) at about 1.30pm (lunch time) so unfortunately our hotel owners were not home and we had to wait on the doorstep in our soaking clothes for about 40 minutes until they arrived ...