Residence Clairmarais Reims

... was pretty cool. Going on two different champagne tours gave us a good perspective of the local/non-commercial and the big time export one. We really enjoyed the Martel/local where we were able to sample three different champagnes. The caves however, in the more commercial one were under the archbishop’s quarters. They were dug out by the Romans and we were at 10 degrees C. Our last night there we had a wonderful French dinner. We all tried the escargot ...

... around a corner – BAM! cathedral. Our group of 40 almost got hit by about 3 cars while we were looking at the outside because the roads run so close to the exterior.

I think this was my first cathedral interior that I’ve been in since we arrived in France. I’ve seen enough pictures and taken enough history classes to know what to expect, but you never get over ...

... to some very nice gentlemen.

The next morning we actually woke up on time and although we were a little sluggish we really weren't that late to the train station. Finding the ticket booth was an entirely different story though. By the time we found the right ticket counter and waited in line we had 10 minutes to board the train we wanted to get on. Needless to say we opted for a later train. We bought a little pricer ticket in order to get to Reims around ...

... complete so you can fully appreciate the beauty of the city.

We stopped for some lunch before exploring the city at Ernest Hemingway's on the main shopping street. A lovely atmosphere bustling with people we spotted the huge hamburgers and made it our instant choice. To be fair with my non-existent french it was the safe choice but word of warning for those not familiar with french cuisine - the hamburger is made of mince meat ...

... 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.

-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.

... took a picnic and bottle to the city's premier feature - (you guessed it) its cathedral. It is remarkably similar in its aesthetics to Notre Dame and equally magnificent, we mused, whilst munching on France's customary baguette, ham and cheese. A fine bottle of Beaujolais was also consumed and we became merry, Ed playing practical jokes on my mum (making water from a tin look like he was relieving himself in public in broad daylight) before mimicking a homeless ...

Sorry it has been so long!!!! I will officially have the internet as of next week Monday, so I will be able to fill you in more on what has been going on. But right now I have time for a quick synopsis of life as an English assistant in France. So far I have been introducing myself to the various French classes that I will be ...

Today is Richard's birthday. James' choice of a present for Dad was a bottle of Champange so I bought a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut Vntage 1998. Emma wanted to buy Daddy a Mickey Mouse cake from the supermarket but they were all sold out so instead she gave Daddy a photographic book of champagne ...

... chocolate and Champagne and Rose wine. Just perfect for a late summer's evening. Okay, okay, okay... Its not all wine and roses, I am actually doing some work during the day and daily life is still pretty much the same as it is back home. The kids still fight, we still growl at them, we still have to go shopping, clean and pay the bills, but there's just no fun telling you all that, because it wouldn't be rubbing it in enough and we are doing all of this in France!