Champagne and Versailles

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August 11, 2008

After spending the night in St. Dizier we travel to Epernay France, which is the heart of the Champagne region. Before we even get there, the rolling hills turn into a valley and the sides of the sloping hills are covered in grape vines. I have never seen so many vines and they go on for miles and miles. There are skinny little roads in between plots which actually have a name. We travelled on one of them rue de parc and our Renault was almost too wide for it. Once arriving at Epernay we found a Champagne house to take a tour. It did not dawn on us until later that the majority of the large champagne houses are in the middle of town. The town grew around the houses. Mercier is one that we visisted and at first it didn’t see like much, until the tour starts off in an elevator going down under the ground 30 meters. There is about 16km of caves built out of the chalk hillside. It is a constant 10 degrees in the tunnels and currently there is 17-18 million bottles of champagne in the tunnels. One of the processes, riddling, is done by machine and by hand. Riddling is turning the bottle that is titled at an angle upside down waiting for the sediment to deposit in the neck of the bottle. An experienced riddler can turn 3 bottles in one second! Mr. Mercier was an interesting man building a wooden barrel in his time that held 210,000 bottles of champagne. Yes we try the champagne and it is good. After leaving the champagne house we travelled on the back roads thru more vineyards and beautiful countryside. We stubbled upon a very large statue, Don Pernon, way up on a hill that over looked the valley. We continue to Melun through the small towns and roads until stop for the night.

August 12, 2008

We wake up to rain, the first time since starting our vacation but it soon disappears to clouds and blue sky. Our next stop is Versailles to see the palace and the grounds. As we wait in line to get our tickets the skies open and the rain starts. Hannah and I watch people run for cover or put out there umbrellas, obviously none have lived on the westcoast of Canada as Hannah and I chuckle. The palace is amazing and we wander from room to room with the crowds of people. Hannah is in awe as this is one place she really wanted to visit. Extravagance is no exception as everything is very large, and gilded in gold where he could have it. Many old paintings also exist. We wander around the gardens for awhile but you could spend a whole day there as there are mazes, ponds, boats to paddle and of course forests to wander in. Once back to our car we find the the car that has parked in front of us, nose in, has parked right against our front bumper. We drive 4000km around Europe and nothing and get back to Paris to have something happen. We back out find no damage and continue on, not before talking to security and the police first.

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Photos

Short, Tall, Grande, and Venti
France Style - Venti will run you 250 euros