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Published: July 17th 2012
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Today, we will drive from Beaune to Reims. We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel Le Cep cellar and made orange juice from the cool machine they have! We had the hotel call a taxi to take us to the Hertz agency to pick up the car we rented. Jim had quite an ordeal getting the reservation but the pick up process here went smooth. We got a great Peugeot SUV with a navigation system. Of course it is a 6 speed diesel stick shift so a bit of a challenge to drive for Jim. The nice taxi driver stayed with us until we got the car and he loaded all our bags.
We headed north out of Beaune towards Reims. We started on the freeway which has tons of toll stops, then somehow we ended up on a side road inland a bit that paralleled the highway. This was a great way to go, we loved the scenery and the leisurely pace. We saw lots of vineyards, agricultural fields, several fields of sunflowers (which they make sunflower oil with), and the beautiful Charlu (white) cattle. We also saw many many wind farms with those giant wind turbines which supplies electricity.
We pulled in to the town of Troyes (pronounced twa) and after driving around not knowing where to find a good restaurant (not McDonalds or Subway), we found one and went in to Bistrot DuPont and had the BEST chicken EVER. OMG the French really know how to eat! We shared a salad, simple as they serve them with lettuce and the best dressing, then they brought out our chicken each in it's own covered casserole dish cooked in the most marvelous sauce ... I will be wishing I can cook chicken like this... I am going to have to get out the cookbooks! We sopped up the sauce with some baguette. I enjoyed an espresso and Jim had an American coffee with warmed milk. There were 2 older french couples sitting near us and the women tried to chat with me. I had to tell them, no parle pas francais (I do not speak French). They still tried to chat, when we left, we bid them aurevoir (goodbye), they wished us a safe journey.
We thought about stopping in Epernay on our way north but decided to go straight to Reims. Jim has developed a head cold
and as the day goes on, his systems are getting worse. I feel so bad for him. I did bring some Benadryl and a prescription codone cough syrup.
I used our iPad to navigate our journey and am so glad that we have it and activated the integral sim card so we get the french network SFR and usually in 3G. Some of the small villages coverage is awful but generally it has been good.
We arrived in Reims, checked in, rested and wandered to dinner. We ate at another outdoor cafe but we were not very hungry. We ordered a jambon and formage omelet and salad verte. I had a nice glass of beaujolais wine but Jim couldn't because he took the benedryl. We met an interesting couple from Los Angeles and chatted with them for a while as we enjoyed our ham and cheese omelet.
Last time we were here in Reims was 2009 and it was snowing and bitter cold. Weather is quite nice today. Tomorrow we have reservations for cave tours and champagne tastings at Mumm in the a.m. and Tattinger in the p.m. Thursday we go to Epernay in the a.m. and
visit Moët Chandon on our way to Paris and our last stop on this adventure. Bonne Nuit.
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