Prim' Hotel Bagatelle 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 ...

... 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 Burger is I think their equivalent of Burger King (since its not as yummy as McDonald's) and is pretty decent and very cheap.

We made our train in plenty of time and after our transfer in Epernay I fell asleep rather quickly until arriving back in Paris.

All in all we consider that our first trip out of Paris, without a tour guide, was extremely successful. We enjoyed every minute of it and are anticipating our next excursion... maybe to Bordeaux?!

... Our tour ended with a delicious glass of Taittinger Brut Reserve.

In to the swing of things now, we freshened up at our hotel before making our way to the balcony of Le Lion to relaxingly sip some Canard-Duchene while watching the Golden Angel of the Sube fountain glisten in the sunlight. Dinner at Bistrot de Boucher was a great end to the evening as we sampled Foie gras, honey coated duck and peppered steak but not before ...

... on. It was already getting quite late in the day considering we still had more than five hours of driving ahead of us. We stopped only for food and in Rheims to check out the cathedral. We had planned to make a few trips along the route but we had also planned on being out of Paris a lot earlier in the day, and I have to work tomorrow, so we didn't get to have much fun driving through France.

... tour for the day would be leaving soon and was in French. At that point a young man came forward and explained that he was the guide for that tour and that he would be happy to intersperse a brief English explanation as he gave the French tour. Of course, we were happy to agree. We ended up being very pleased to have gone to Castellane. They are a much smaller producer, with 80% of their production being sold in France, 15% in Belgium, and only 5% in other markets ...

... and walked there to get directions. Someone who we think was the son of the household was "volunteered" to help and walked back to the car with us to guide us in. It was fun trying trying to squeeze another person into the car along with the cases, but we managed. Finally, after a lot of "droit" and "gauche" (left and right) we arrived at Parve Domus. We had discovered it on the Internet a year earlier, and were delighted to find it was as ...

... to take home as it was all so cheap. Sadly the case of Dom Perignon for 1000 Euros had to stay on the shelf for another day. Buzzing after our tastings at Moet, we opted to try and squeeze one more visit in before they all shut for the day. We headed down the street to Mercier, famous within France for their giant champagne barrel that was carted through the streets from Epernay to Paris in 1889 for the world fair. I think they were actually ...

... balloon over Paris and dropped fliers for a free tasting of champagne and offered tastings in the hot air balloon as well. Needless to say, the business is still going strong. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. That evening, Matthieu invited us to have dinner at his aunt and uncle's home. We all went and had a fantastic time! There were several cousins there as well and all exceptionally musically talented. After dinner, an impromptu jam session was held in ...

...ahhh...champagne...tastes great...but what is it exactly? Kris and I were on a mission to find out. Staying off all major highways, we made our way slowly along the french countryside south towards Epernay...the birth place of champagne. After almost 3 hours in the car, and just outside of our destination, Kris and I came across a beautiful lookout which gave us pananoramic views of Epernay and the hillsides covered with vinyards ...