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We Started To See Weeds in The River Marne
we had heard they could be a problem to watch for On Thursday, May 25
thwe left Dormans and headed to Epernay. We had passed through 2 locks and as we were passing the village of Damery an older gentleman stood on the village dock and motioned us to stop. We waved at him and shouted over “good day” in French and indicated we were headed to Epernay. He kept motioning to us to stop, but we continued. We kept motoring away from town and had gotten about a mile down the river when we made the decision to turn around and stop. We figured, “what the heck, why not stop?” It appeared that it would be a nice restful place to stop for the night.
Almost before we had completed tying up this gentleman was on the dock greeting us in French and calling me Karen and Bob was called Chris. We didn’t understand and we kept trying to tell him our names. We finally understood that Karen and Chris were also Americans and we figured that they must have stopped here before. We think he thought we were them due to his seeing our American flag. It didn’t seem to upset him that we weren’t them and after our trying
to communicate a little more by exchanging pleasantries, he left. A few minutes later he came back and called to Bob to come follow him. Bob didn’t have a clue where he was headed, but he followed. When Bob returned he told me of his wonderful garden that is quite close by and that we were given a gift of a beautiful head of lettuce.
We later took a walk around the town and found that there are many champagne houses here so figured we will have to visit at least one of them while we are here. We are heading to Epernay which everyone tells us is the place to visit Champagne Houses as all the big names are here, but we figure that visiting a smaller vineyard we would get a more personal tour. We will see if that is true.
The next day was a beautiful one so decided to take the bikes off the deck and get in a ride. We find that there are typically wonderful paths near the canals for biking so started off on one that would take us to the next village back in the direction that we had just
motored from. It turned out to be a lovely bike ride taking us by numerous fields of wheat, corn and of course vineyards. We found that the village we biked to also had plenty of champagne houses as well – it definitely is the Champagne region of France!
When we returned from our bike ride we decided to stop for lunch. We find that many places provide dockage for free and we like to show appreciation in some way by spending money in the town. The easiest way to do this is by eating out and of course buying groceries. The place we stopped at for lunch was close to the river and they had seating outside which was perfect. We found out that the owners didn’t speak any English, but the woman took us to her 2 electric pans, opened the lid and showed us her 2 offerings. They were very hearty looking meals – paella and the other was sausage, beans and cabbage. We took one of each. She then showed us that there was a small salad bar, bread and a plate of cheese that we could serve ourselves from. It was definitely quite the meal
- figured we wouldn’t need to eat again that day!
We decided to end the day with a tour of a champagne house. We had read some reviews on TripAdvisor and headed to one that was recommended. We walked in the door and found it was just a tasting with a room full (and I do mean full) of people sitting around tables with champagne glasses in front of them. We decided that wasn’t quite what we were looking for so told them we would check back another time. It reminded us of the wine touring times in the Finger Lakes where people came by bus loads to the vineyards in the fall. Here we noticed that almost all the cars we saw parked on the village streets were from Belgium so figured maybe they were on holiday there and came to Damery for their tastings.
We knew from our previous walk around town that there were plenty of other places to check out. We saw Champagne Goutorbe-Bouillot and only a few cars parked there so decided to try there. We found that the owner had just started his tour with a group of 4 couples from Belgium
When Passing Chatillon-Sur-Marne
Pope Urbain II's statute is prominent on the hill and indicated we could join. Only problem was he only spoke French. Luckily for us one of the Belgian woman in the tour group stated that she would be willing to be our translator so stayed for the tour. She definitely was a wonderful help to understanding the process.
We found that at this champagne house they do not have any limestone caves; instead they have created an artificial environment with the correct temperature, humidity and light for the production of champagne. He took us through the production area and as we had been to wineries in NY we were quite familiar with the equipment and most of the process which was helpful. Here they have mechanized systems for turning the bottles which makes the process more time efficient and less labor intensive. We learned that the champagne houses here do hire temporary employees usually for the month of September for the picking and processing. The first day of harvest is actually determined by the government agency that regulated the production of champagne. It is important to have the government regulation listed on your label as it tells the consumer that the product was produced to those standards. It
Our Stop in Damery started as an overnight
but we stayed 3 evenings - a great stop for us! is listed on the label as AOC. This designation indicates not only the standard of the production method but that it is champagne produced in the Champagne Region of France. He also took us out to the vineyards to show us the variety of grapes that he used in the making of wine. They use chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier in various proportions and combinations for their various offerings. We had seen rose bushes at the ends of various rows of grapevines in the numerous vineyards we passed and were wondering about them. The mystery was reveled as we were told that they are watched for signs of any insect problems – the roses are more susceptible to insect infestation and as a result are similar to the canary in the coal mine.
Part way through the tour a group of 4 University students joined in. During the tasting we were talking to them and found that they are French but have been studying in Brussels. They are on University break and came over to Damery to check out some of the champagne houses as well as do some bike riding. As always we enjoy talking to this
Our Unplanned Stop in Damery is All Because of One Man
At his home with Anita & on our selfie while on the tour age group of people comparing educational systems in various countries with the US. At the end of the tasting we walked back to the boat with a few more bottles of champagne. One thing we have been told is that champagne does not keep well unless it is kept at a constant cooler temperature and darkness. We can easily deal with the darkness on the boat, but not as easy with the cooler temperature so guess we will just have to work on drinking these bottles. Yes, we do have a refrigerator, but it is not that large and can’t fill it with only champagne! One of the couples we met in Paris suggested that when we come through the Champagne region we might consider buying splits instead of full bottles so they are easier to store and you can do your own taste tasting on the boat. We took their advice and bought a few splits, but now are thinking that when you want some champagne with dinner, a split just isn’t enough. What a problem indeed.
In the evening we were sitting on the back of the boat and the 4 University students were biking by. We
The First Day We Were Given A Head of Lettuce
from his wonderful garden located near the dock greeted them and then asked if they’d like a tour of the boat which they jumped at. We had another pleasant time visiting with them, gave them a tour of the boat, and then they took off again on their bike ride.
The next day was Saturday. We were having a slow morning on the boat. We had just started to walk toward the village when we went by Ali’s garden. He gave us a gift of another head of lettuce and some mint. He was there and told Bob to get in the car (well, that is what we got from the few words we picked up as well as the sign language that was used). He didn’t mention me, but we tried to indicate that I would like to go too. I started to get in and Ali was fine with that, he just needed to move some things around in the back seat so I could sit. We had no idea where we were going, but figured it was worth seeing where he would take us.
We first drove to the bakery and Ali picked up some bread. As long as we were there Bob
did the same. Ali then went to the small grocery store in town and he delivered some of his mint to this shopkeeper. We then drove out of town and he made a turn into a place which we quickly recognized as a recycling center. He opened up his truck and got rid of a few bags of recycling, but also delivered a couple heads of lettuce to someone working there. He got back in the car and we were off again. This time we headed up into a few of the vineyards. When I say up, I do mean up and on some very rough roads. Eventually he stopped next to a man that was sitting on a low cart with an umbrella. We learned that he was pruning the side shoots off of the vines down near the ground. It was quite an ingenious low seat that was battery powered and fit between the rows. He showed us what he was doing and then started down the row again to continue his work. There were a few of them in the fields that we could see, but we were told that as it was a Saturday there weren’t
that many – normally there are many more working in the fields each day. We continued our journey in the car up again to the top of the vineyard. Ali stopped the car and we all got out to enjoy the view. Ali mentioned again that Karen took photos here which I could easily see why, so I did as well. What a beautiful area of the country this is. It does remind us in many ways of the beauty of the Finger Lakes region of NY with its acres of vineyards, but this area is on a much larger scale. Next Ali drove through the vineyard again and we stopped to talk to another person working that day. She showed us that she was making sure that the vines were growing between the wires that were in place for the plants to grow on. She moved the wires up and tucked in the vines that were not cooperating. She said she did this all day long 6 days per week. This is definitely a very labor intensive process. Our next stop was at a water tank that was sitting in the vineyards. Ali got out quite a few plastic
containers to collect water here. Bob and I helped with this process of filling all the containers and then putting them in the trunk of his car. We aren’t quite sure why we were doing this as he typically took water from the river for his garden, but for some reason he also uses water from here as well. Unfortunately with our language skills lacking we couldn’t find out the answers to some of our questions. We definitely miss out on finding out the finer details of various things that happen around us.
We thought that we were done once we helped him unload the water at his garden, but he wanted us back in his car again. This time we went to his home. He invited us in to his kitchen where we met his wife, Anita. He had us sit down and he opened up his refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of champagne. There was no label on the bottle, but we recognized it was champagne by the type of cork and closure on it. It was only 11:15AM but no problem. He opened a bag of chips and we all sat down and had a drink
Instead of Turning Bottles By Hand
these are done by machine - more efficient & timely together. His wife did not speak English either but we somehow communicated while there. We looked at photos of their family on the wall, with them telling us the names of their children and grandchildren. We also found out their ages and they found out ours by writing this information down. We were surprised to find out that he is 82 and his wife is 69. Gardening definitely is keeping him young as we never would have guessed his age as he stays very active and never seems to stop working hard on his garden. We got their address so we could send them photos that we took and Ali got out a photo album of pictures that Karen and Chris had taken when they were visiting. This gave us some more answers about who they are as he had a boat card from them with their address, email and boat name. We took down this information so we could make contact with them as it seems as though Karen had French language skills as we saw a few post cards written in French from her.
We left his home and walked back to the boat with what we
We Took a Wonderful Bike Ride While in Damery
there are numerous bike trails near the canals know will be lifelong memories of Ali and the village of Damery. Ali asked us if we would still be here tomorrow as he indicated he would drive us to another village to see, but we told him that we must move on in the morning.
The next morning we went through our normal rituals of getting ready to leave for another day on the canal when we had a visit from Ali. He came bearing gifts – this time another head of lettuce but also wonderful strawberries and peas freshly picked this morning. When we left Ali returned to filling his watering can with water from the river and carrying it back to his garden. This is a vision we will always remember.
We are anxious to contact Karen and Chris to find out more about this fascinating man and his family as we know we missed out on a lot. We also want to find a place soon where we can make prints of the photos we took so we can mail them to him.
What a wonderful stop this was and to think it was only by chance that we decided to turn around
and find out more about this man that motioned us to stop in the village of Damery.
As a footnote, we did make contact with Karen & Chris and found out more details. They have been stopping with their boat in Damery for quite a few years due to the friendship they have made with Ali, Anita and their family as well as others in the village. Come to find out Ali is actually from Algeria. He was from a large family where only the 3 oldest boys were educated. Ali had dreams of bettering his life and as a teen thought coming to France would be his best solution. When he arrived he worked hard as a truck driver and then worked his way up into the vineyards. When he was 38 he met Anita, a local woman from Damery and he has lived here every since working hard and raising a wonderful family.
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