Blogs from Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, France, Europe - page 3

Tuesday 14 July 2015 Yesterday was a city day, today it was country and the search was on for the elusive champagne vine. So with the map from the Tourist Office we headed off on the touristique du Champagne. Our first town on the list was Thil, for no other reason than it was near the start of our tour and Polly was keen to get us on the road. She even offered to be a backseat driver and only offer assistance when it came to find our way back to the hotel. We think she was after a few samplings along the way. It was Bastille Day and we weren't sure what to expect. On TV everything was being beamed in live from Paris. President Hollande was there, as was the President of Mexico. The ... read more

When I left the station at Reims, I turned left and walked through a lovely park and headed towards La Porte de Mars, an old Roman ruin. Mars Gate is the only remaining monumental gate built in the first part of the 3rd century and giving access to the Roman city of Durocortorum. I then headed along the pedestrian street Place Drouet d’ergon which was where their christmas markets were being held. I kept going until I came to Rue de Vesle. I then made my way to the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Reims. It is truly worth the visit. Excavations have shown that the present building occupies roughly the same site as the original cathedral, founded c.400 under the episcopacy of St Nicaise. That church was rebuilt during the Carolingian period and further extended ... read more

The drive to Reims was a little less than 2 hours. I’m still getting used to seeing the GPS read speeds in km/hour and the French highways. The French highways are very nice but they are not built by the government. They are owned and built by companies and as such, the tolls are pretty expensive, 18 to 22 euros. Everyone here drives smaller cars than in the US and the city driving is very aggressive and the city roads are very tiny. I’ve been lucky enough to not need to drive yet since I did all the driving in the US. The first thing that we did once we arrived in Reims was to check in to the hostel. We had looked at the hostel the previous night and were considering booking it online but ... read more

With tickets for the Regional Train in hand we found the East Station easily and found our seats easily (after finding a chocolate croissant). A 45 minute ride brought us to Reims, where Champagne come from. We stopped the Notre Dame Cathedral where 25 kings of France were crowned - quite a dinstiction! A hike to the other end of town in one hundred percent humidity and thirty degree heat brought us to Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. The tasting tour we booked was limited to eight people and was excellent. Our guide, a young lady from Russia, gave a clear explanation of how the wines become classified based on where the grapes are grown. An aroma garden of plantings from around the world allowed us to touch, taste and smell plants and get a feeling for what ... read more

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 ... read more