Balladins Express Hotel Reims

... were walking out with carts full of Cases of wine, not to mention all the cheese, fois gras, ham, mushrooms, and other french goodies that were up for grabs. We spent a piddly 5 hours drinking wine, and now have a much better "education" of French wine. But after a couple hours, food was definitely in order. Istead of opting for the 9 euro fois gras sandwich, we got the pate en croute, which we soon found out is not supposed to be eaten ...

... sorbet with a champagne liqueur, and a bottle of wine from Beaune – and our teacher friend was also kind enough to pass along some information on what teaching English in France is like.

Glenn and Pam Said:

Who would have thought you could find a restaurant/café on the main walking street named Ernest Hemingway in Reims? Besides the frequent cafes, our self-guided tour through the Notre Dame of Reims was enlightening. They had an old clock ...

... perfect lair for a comic-book villain, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what the builders were going for. One thing that’s kind of surprising about these churches is the fact that they don’t really have grand plazas or entrance courts like you would expect. The approach to Laon was basically winding street – another narrow winding street – another street ...

... a breeze which allowed us to fully enjoy the city and its champagne!

We purchased a few post cards before leaving the tourists center and decided on a place for lunch. I was and am usually designated as the map person. I carry, read, and just generally know (or think I know) the best route to travel in. We had some time to kill before we had to board the bus for the outskirts of the city so we walked more of the pedestrian streets in the heart of the city ...

... entrance to France is not the most scenic but it gets better as you get on the motor way and start to see some of the countryside. It helped that it was a gorgeously sunny day with only a crisp wind. You could see that Autumn was on the way as every now and then trees and bushes had a sprinkling of light gold and orange, making the drive seem more beautiful.

By lunchtime we had reached Reims our destination for the weekend. Reims ...

... her credit cards in it.

We pulled off the highway and threw our belongings out of the car, searching everywhere for the wallet. But it was nowhere to be found. Mom thought it may have been stolen last night at the Eiffel Tower as at one point she looked down and saw her bag was open and wondered if she had left it that way.

We decided at this point there was little we could do but ...

... were the only english speakers in the entire restaurant - which, frankly, is always a good sign. We both chose pasta dishes, but were surprised by the French twist on them. She had the ubiquitous "Fruits of the Sea" pasta dish that has literally been everywhere in the tourist areas. But they turned it into sort of a seafood ratatouille. The sauce was awesome. I had the deux saumon pasta dish that came with cooked and raw salmon (or "tartare") and a ...

... ubiquitous, that even a little boy commented about it to his grandma on the bus, "Grandma, why is the work just everywhere, everywhere, everywhere? It is frightening!!"   Here is the kicker, not only does it make the bus stops move, it also makes pedestrians question how they are going to get from point a to b.  Today I was going to walk to the grocery store. After being diverted to a long stone ...

... thing your city is most known for)" "Turn in the opposite direction you are walking and go straight" "Thank you." We walked, asked for directions again, and then finally found it. I won't get into all the details of the first apartment, but let's just say, I continued to look.   I called the next woman on my list and she didn't have an opening until 5:00.  It was only 1:30 so we ate lunch and looked at the cathedral.  The next location was pretty ...

... morning tea very much locate me in France. This is a very real, very sensual and sensuous experience - one that money cannot buy. Come lunchtime and everyone has earned the four course meal that is served up in the bottling room. It starts with an explanation from the winemaker himself of the 1997 Noble Cuvee Blanc de Blanc that we have with the first course. This is a much more refined lunch than that ...