L'Assiette Champenoise Chateaux & Hotels De France Tinqueux

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 ...

... 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 ...

... quick peeks of it over the rooftops as you approach, and there are great visas once you’re at the top. One thing we noticed was how skeletal it looked; the amount of arches and thin columns gave its towers a spindly appearance, or as spindly an appearance you can have when you’re talking about something made of tons of stone. According to my friend, it looked like it would be ...

... cathedral. The colors of the glass were so vibrant and the space was so serene and peaceful, a very nice ending to our day of touring.

The girls and I walked back to the main thoroughfare were we had a very drinks while people watching and reveling in how awesome our day trip had turned out. Our train was scheduled to leave at 8:02pm and with most of the cafes not serving dinner (which is a couple hour ordeal here) until 7pm we decided on a small burger ...

... 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 ...

-We drove through Reims on the way back to Maastricht and stopped at the Pommery estate for a tour of its cellars. It felt like we were spelunking in the underground cellars, which are more similar to mining caves, housing over 20 million bottles of champagne. It was even complete with riddling racks, though they don't use that technique anymore. After the tour, we had a tasting, which ended in purchasing four bottles that complete with the Pommery logo straws... weird french people.

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 ...

... teachers, but apparently I am only working with three, Jocelyne, Mariette, and Marilise. Jocelyne is the head of the department and my main point of contact at the school. Mariette is the youngest. She is only 25 and this is her second year teaching. Marilise is Dutch and has been teaching for quite some time now. They are all very nice so far. Jocelyne asked me to prepare a lesson next week for her classes about the ...

Salut à tous, Comme promis à mes amis francophones et francophiles, j'essaierai de vous écrire en français de temps en temps. Donc, je suis parti de l'Irlande et des Îles britanniques pour me rendre sur Reims via Paris. Disons que j'ai passé du bon temps chez les Anglais, Écossais et Irlandais pendant ces deux dernières semaines, mais il était temps de me retrouver chez les Français et ma ville d'accueil. Le voyage individuel est assez ...