Day 13 - Champagne!
We are quite conscious that our trip is drawing to a close, so our final days here we are wrapping up our unofficial "to-do" list we have created since we started this trip. Our plans to see Musee d'Orsay in Paris where the impressionist masters like Monet and Guagin etc.. Are displayed will happen Friday, along with a visit to Versaille to see the Palace there.
We had a leisurely breakfast at our B&B at eight AM and then had an equally leisurely drive towards Reims. We stopped at a smll village and bought some pastries and fruit for lunch. We also bought some table wine. White - in juice boxes like the kid's apple juice (I was a little disappointed there was no straw). 3 boxes for $2.00 and it wasn't bad. I also bought a litre of table red for $2.00, which I haven't tasted yet, maybe for tomorrow's lunch.
We drove a little further then found a shady picnic spot, which there seems to be plenty of, and enjoyed our lunch roadside. The whole country pretty much shuts down for a 2 hour lunch. The highways empty into the many rest areas and everyone has their lunch and a little nap. It's a good system compared the "sprint to the finish" way of life in Canada. I like it anyway.
There is no drive thru culture here yet (although the McDonalds are springing up), and there is no facility for "eating on the go". There is one cup holder in the car, and it placed where it could be best used by a passenger in the back seat. People look at us funny when we immediately open our bags and start eating as we're walking. Mon Dieu! Sit down and enjoy your food! How much of a rush can you be in?
It took us almost 10 days to get into the French eating habits, and it is still a struggle. We DO stop at lunchtime and eat OUTSIDE the car - crazy, I know.
We starting hearing our clock ticking, and the tiny country roads weren't cutting it, so we hopped over to the big Autoroute (130km/h) and cooked on up to Reims (pr. Rance) which is the big city in Champagne region where the heavy hitters of the Champagne biz have their houses (Moet is the biggest). We planned to tour them tomorrow, today we were hitting the "Champagne Trail" as it were that leads through the country villages and vineyards where the bubbly is actually produced.
We managed to find a tourism office and a place to stay in a village called Fleury la Rivieres. The old farmhouse converted to B&B in the middle of town was restored by the current owner, Mr. Legrand. His wife runs it, while they also make champagne in the next village over. The room was really nice and was tucked up in the former loft of the barn with exposed beams and sloping ceilings.
We cleaned up and prepared to walk around the village looking for food, but on our way out were invited to sit with them and 2 of their guests to try their champagne. It turns out that the 2 guests were friends of theirs from Belgium. One of the Belgians spoke English, which helped explain the parts of the conversation that we were missing. Our hosts didn't speak English at all, which was OK too. This is France after all. I find I'm getting better at following the conversations, and that when I asked Madame Legrand to speak to me more slowly I could understand her better.
A bottle and a half of champagne later (the second one was rose for the girls) we had been invited to join the Belgians in the next town (Hauteville) at the restaurant in front of the Abbey where Dom Perignon was a monk. Cool. The restaurant was haute cuisine, which we have learned in France means great meat with hashbrowns. I am a total foie gras convert. Never in a zillion years could you have convinced me I would like goose liver, but it is probably 4x as tasty the best bacon. It's good. ;) Joanna had the veal and I had filet Mignon which is actually called something else here. Prices were reasonable and we had very pleasant company. We shared some travel stories, and Madame is involved with the "over 40 olympics" which took her to Japan recently. She's a dentist, while he restores old Mercedes.
We had followed them to the restaurant which was in the town we had just come from, so we decided we would follow them back as well now that it was dark. He made a left when I knew we should be going right so I figured he was taking us on another route back via his GPS. After winding our way down the hillside in the pitch black through a vineyard, we finally came to a stop and Madame comes back and says, "oops, we're lost". I volunteer to lead us back to town and luckily (or skilfully) achieve just that without hiccup.
We have a good laugh back at the B&B about the misadventure, then turned in for the night. What a great day!
We had a leisurely breakfast at our B&B at eight AM and then had an equally leisurely drive towards Reims. We stopped at a smll village and bought some pastries and fruit for lunch. We also bought some table wine. White - in juice boxes like the kid's apple juice (I was a little disappointed there was no straw). 3 boxes for $2.00 and it wasn't bad. I also bought a litre of table red for $2.00, which I haven't tasted yet, maybe for tomorrow's lunch.
We drove a little further then found a shady picnic spot, which there seems to be plenty of, and enjoyed our lunch roadside. The whole country pretty much shuts down for a 2 hour lunch. The highways empty into the many rest areas and everyone has their lunch and a little nap. It's a good system compared the "sprint to the finish" way of life in Canada. I like it anyway.
There is no drive thru culture here yet (although the McDonalds are springing up), and there is no facility for "eating on the go". There is one cup holder in the car, and it placed where it could be best used by a passenger in the back seat. People look at us funny when we immediately open our bags and start eating as we're walking. Mon Dieu! Sit down and enjoy your food! How much of a rush can you be in?
It took us almost 10 days to get into the French eating habits, and it is still a struggle. We DO stop at lunchtime and eat OUTSIDE the car - crazy, I know.
We starting hearing our clock ticking, and the tiny country roads weren't cutting it, so we hopped over to the big Autoroute (130km/h) and cooked on up to Reims (pr. Rance) which is the big city in Champagne region where the heavy hitters of the Champagne biz have their houses (Moet is the biggest). We planned to tour them tomorrow, today we were hitting the "Champagne Trail" as it were that leads through the country villages and vineyards where the bubbly is actually produced.
We managed to find a tourism office and a place to stay in a village called Fleury la Rivieres. The old farmhouse converted to B&B in the middle of town was restored by the current owner, Mr. Legrand. His wife runs it, while they also make champagne in the next village over. The room was really nice and was tucked up in the former loft of the barn with exposed beams and sloping ceilings.
We cleaned up and prepared to walk around the village looking for food, but on our way out were invited to sit with them and 2 of their guests to try their champagne. It turns out that the 2 guests were friends of theirs from Belgium. One of the Belgians spoke English, which helped explain the parts of the conversation that we were missing. Our hosts didn't speak English at all, which was OK too. This is France after all. I find I'm getting better at following the conversations, and that when I asked Madame Legrand to speak to me more slowly I could understand her better.
A bottle and a half of champagne later (the second one was rose for the girls) we had been invited to join the Belgians in the next town (Hauteville) at the restaurant in front of the Abbey where Dom Perignon was a monk. Cool. The restaurant was haute cuisine, which we have learned in France means great meat with hashbrowns. I am a total foie gras convert. Never in a zillion years could you have convinced me I would like goose liver, but it is probably 4x as tasty the best bacon. It's good. ;) Joanna had the veal and I had filet Mignon which is actually called something else here. Prices were reasonable and we had very pleasant company. We shared some travel stories, and Madame is involved with the "over 40 olympics" which took her to Japan recently. She's a dentist, while he restores old Mercedes.
We had followed them to the restaurant which was in the town we had just come from, so we decided we would follow them back as well now that it was dark. He made a left when I knew we should be going right so I figured he was taking us on another route back via his GPS. After winding our way down the hillside in the pitch black through a vineyard, we finally came to a stop and Madame comes back and says, "oops, we're lost". I volunteer to lead us back to town and luckily (or skilfully) achieve just that without hiccup.
We have a good laugh back at the B&B about the misadventure, then turned in for the night. What a great day!
posted by Paul at 1:49 PM
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