Our little dashboard Sat Nav lady must have had a big night the night before because she got us little lost which added about an hour onto an already long trip ahead. Once we had skirted around Bern, the capital of Switzerland – which is about ½ an hour from Interlaken, she wanted to take us up north towards Basal but we wanted to head west to France, aiming for Dijon for lunch. We doubled back, wound around, across here, over there and finally managed to get back on track and crossed the border finally into France. Ahh, how excited we were to be on French soil. I could finally read and understand things, communicate a bit and everything just seems jolie! I reckon in my past life I must have been French, it is just a shame that the accent, figure and style of the French woman didn’t come over with me into this life.
We decided to give Dijon a miss because we had to make up time (had to leave something for another trip another time) and kept heading north towards the Champagne region, our home for the next 3 nights. There were whoops of delight and the sound of corks popping (OK, I made that bit up) as we crossed over into the Champagne region and I reached into the glove box and got my champagne glass out and ready. Sadly we still had a couple of hours to go so I popped it back for now. Hang on a second, this surely couldn’t be The Champagne Region of France! Where were the vineyards? All we could see either side of us were fields and fields, some with beautiful yellow flowers, some with bright green grass type crop and others that were barren with sandy type soil. Where were my vines? I couldn’t blame the Sat Nav lady for this because I saw the sign myself as we entered the region. I later learnt that this is typical of most of this area and it isn’t until you get into the heart of the Champagne Region ie. Epernay and Reims etc, that you start to see the vineyards. OK, I will sit back quietly and wait. We counted those huge 3 pronged windmills that popped up continously across the countryside as far as the eye could see and we sang songs in French (OK, I made that up too) until we finally arrived in Epernay. Now we were talking – vineyards!! Champagne Houses!! We found our accommodation and shot off into town for dinner, umm escargots and wine. Nup, we ended up at an Italian Restaurant. I think Corky is seriously worried about me sneaking a snail or two onto his plate sometime.
Little Harry came out in chicken pox. He seemed fine, not sick at all but had a mark on his stomach which I thought was a mossie bite. Then I found a blister behind his ear and then sure enough a few more started to pop up. Oh dear, we were due to see our friends in the UK at the end of the week and they have 3 young kids. Sure enough, by the next morning he was covered in chicken pox from head to toe but he was fine otherwise.
Little Harry came out in chicken pox. He seemed fine, not sick at all but had a mark on his stomach which I thought was a mossie bite. Then I found a blister behind his ear and then sure enough a few more started to pop up. Oh dear, we were due to see our friends in the UK at the end of the week and they have 3 young kids. Sure enough, by the next morning he was covered in chicken pox from head to toe but he was fine otherwise.
I popped like a cork out of bed this morning, yes, with my champagne glass in my hand. Let’s go! We drove into Reims which was about 20kms from where we were staying in Dizy (Epernay) and sat in a cute little French Patisserie for breakfast, munching on Pain Au Chocolate and sipping Chocolate Chauds. I watched the stylish French women swan by and reassessed my clothes that were now up to day 18 on our trip and wondered why I didn’t bring my faux fur stole and heels. Never mind.
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| Madi in a French cafe |
Reims is a big city but a very old city. Cobblestones, ancient buildings and of course the piece de resistance (see, that’s the French in me again!), the Notre Dame Cathedral of Reims. It is incredible!! I had read about it before but to see it was amazing. Unfortunately my photos just couldn’t do it justice. On 18 July this year, it will be 800 years old. It is in the process of a huge restoration and you can see why – I guess anything that is that old needs a facelift sometime.
Time now to visit a Champagne House. Taittinger was open so we joined the tour there. We wound down into the cellars which are kilometres long, full of fermenting and aging Champagne. It is all limestone and old chalk quarries down there and this keeps the temperature at a regular 12-14 degrees all year round and a constant humidity of around 90 percent – all perfect conditions to prepare champagne. We were taken around and shown many fermenting bottles and explained the whole interesting process. At the end we were treated to a lovely glass of the Taittinger Champagne. We wanted more … so off to Epernay to find Moet and Chandon and Dom Perignon. The tour was exactly the same as the previous one but obviously a different champagne produced. Once again, a lovely taste test of Moet at the end.
Back to Reims for dinner in a restaurant called the Hippopotamus (aimed towards children obviously) and then home. As we were driving along a stretch of road through some forest, we narrowly missed hitting 2 deers which ran across the road – quite a frightening experience, the kids would never have forgiven Corky if he had hit Bambi.
Enough champagne, time for sightseeing the area. We drove to the town of Chateau Thierry which is about half way between Reims and Paris. On the way we stopped in to look at a Chateau and War Memorial at the town of Dormans. This whole area was invaded by the Germans during WW1 and you can picture the troops storming through this landscape and old towns. In one tiny town we drove through, there was a very old house along the roadside that you can still see the machine gun fire right up the side of the house. The history this area must hold is incredible. There were continual monuments and memorials all the way along, some for just a few people, others for many more. Once we reached the town of Chateau Thierry, we could see up on the hill overlooking the town the large American memorial dedicated by the Americans who lost their lives in WW1.
From here, we drove back to Reims, through the beautiful countryside with all the rapeseed flowers for miles and miles. We stopped and had a closer look, they smell beautiful (but unfortunately the pollen sticks to your clothes). This rapeseed is used as canola, bio diesel and animal food amongst other things which explains why it is so prolific throughout the countryside as far as the eye can see.
Once we reached Reims again, we had a wander back around to the Cathedral and inside a church service was going on. We watched for a while because it was quite a spectacular with the priests in robes and choir singers. We left and went and had dinner in an open square.
The next morning it was time to put away the Champagne glasses as we headed off this morning for the coast of France. We went via Fromelles, the most recent war memorial for Australian soldiers who died in WW1. These bodies were only found almost 3 years ago in six mass graves, 92 years after they had died. The memorial was very fitting and beautifully kept and very peaceful. We stayed and had lunch here and then drove another kilometre on to 2 other memorials. With the layout of the landscape and with the sun starting to set, it really instilled a great sense of sadness for what these soldiers went through and how they must have suffered. It really was a solemn experience.
Off to Dunkerque .....x
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