Voyage a Giverny

Today we had a change of scenery and a change of pace and tried something we’ve never done before: a bike tour. Mom, Kelly and I booked a Fat tire Bike Tour to Monet’s gardens and the town of Giverny. I honestly don’t think we coul’ve asked for a better day. It was cool and a bit gray in the morning when we took the Metro to the train station (Gare St. Lazar) but by the time we arrived in Vernon the sun had decided to part the clouds and shine down. The town of Vernon was quaint and this is where we stopped and had a bit of time to shop for our picnic lunch later in the day. In charming French fashion there were fromagerie, boucheries and boulangeries s we stopped in to gather supplies for our déjeuner. We filled our bike baskets with freshly baked and still warm baguette, cold cuts of meat cut straight from the boucherie, an assortment of wonderful cheeses, a bottle of pink and crisp rose and a small box of sweet treats from the boulangerie…probably more than we should’ve ate in one sitting!

After spending a bit of time we met back up with our small group and we collected our bikes; cute and adorable red and blue cruiser bikes with oh-so-cute baskets to carry out bottles of wine and baguette. Packed up and ready to roll, we took off through the town of Vernon, our guide stopping occasionally here and there to point out a historically significant cathedral or building. The town has an interesting mix of Tudor-style buildings and traditional French country-style buildings. We biked thru town for a bit before climbing over a bridge and up onto the other side of the Seine River. Biking through a small park we stopped by an old Tudor bridge and parked there to have a lovely afternoon lunch on the Seine River.

Our picnic along the Seine was absolutely perfect, there was a slight breeze, birds were chirping, the temperature was perfect and our lunch was simple and so incredibly French. We laid lazily in the grass along the Seine and enjoyed our meal and wine while our guide talked about Impressionism and the impact Monet had on the artistic world. I think all three of us would have been just as satisfied to lay here the rest of the afternoon but we had to move on towards Giverny and Monet’s gardens. We packed up the remainder of our food (which was just some cheese and sweet treats at this point) and got on our bikes again to continue our ride to Giverny.

The bike trail to Giverny was so beautiful. It rolled through the countryside with little Tudor-style homes, cows and wildlife grazing in the grass and wildflowers. No wonder Monet lived out here, every few feet you could stop and create a painting (or take a photo in our case). Eventually we made it to the town in which Monet lived and grew his now-famous and breath-taking gardens. Charming doesn’t even accurately describe it; I don’t think photos can even capture it either! Little open-air art galleries dotted the main street that led up to Monet’s house. Cute café and shops were here and there…mom and I wanted to stop in every single one.

Made it to Monet’s garden and home and it was just like walking into one of his paintings. His paintings are so realistic it really does feel like every step is a moment to be captured by a paintbrush. Just mesmerizing. The lilies, the weeping willows, the little row boat in the water- perfectly staged for an artist to capture a beautiful French country moment for people to adore for hundreds of years to come.

I can’t recommend this trip and tour enough. I’m not a huge planned guided trip gal, but Fat Tire Bike Tours did such a great job to make it laid back, casual, and let you really make the trip what you wanted it to be for you. Some people napped, others went to the house and gardens, some people shopped. My only complaint: I wish we had another 8 hours to spend exploring the town and eating another meal by the Seine. But I think that is what France does, it awakens your taste buds to life and makes you come back for more. La vie est belle!

After returning by train to Paris we decided to try our luck at getting up to the top of the Eiffel Tower as we hadn’t been able to do that yet. We got there and the line was long but not too terribly long so we decided to tough it out and wait in line. Well we did make it up to the top, and the view was wonderful by night but man oh man was it freezing up there. We were so unprepared for the weather and how cold it was that it was almost comical. I’m a little disappointed to say we didn’t even go all the way to the top because it was that miserable up there. However at least I can say I went up the Eiffel Tower! Next time I am going to bring a much thicker coat, gloves and a thick scarf because who knew that even in late May, Paris can still be freezing at night. Brrr!

Voyage à Reims

When we were planning our trip to France, Kelly mentioned she'd love to go to the champagne region and do a day in the countryside sipping champagne. After debating about whether to forge out on our own path and try to figure out the champagne houses ourselves, or go with a chauffeured tour...we went with option B. More champagne. More mileage. More drinking and no driving. Sounds much safer. Kelly booked us a tour with La Vigne du Roy, for a private day-tour of Reims and the champagne houses.

We left our apartment early to head to the train station this morning. The metro was full of women in wonderful black heels and sleek dresses & men looking dapper in their blazers and buffed shoes. I love the metro-style of city life, especially the men! We ended up at Gare de l’Est and caught the train towards Reims, about a 40-minute ride. I love riding trains, maybe because it’s something I only do in Europe, but I think it’s so fun to watch the country speed by your window and just catch small glimpses of another place.

After landing in Reims, we were supposed to meet our guide outside of the station. We arrived and walked outside and were expecting someone standing there with a sign for our group, however when we got out there- nothing. No one was waiting. We were about two minutes early, so we figured they were just running late. A few more minutes pass, and still no one shows up. After double and triple checking that we were at the right train station, I started to panic. I went back into the station and used my little French to ask if they knew of this company but quickly found out they didn’t speak much English in this part of France. So this was going to be an adventure. Thankfully when I returned outside to mom and Kelly, our guide had arrived. She had run into quite the traffic jam and profusely apologized (we were just so thankful that she arrived and it wasn’t a scam that we didn’t care).

After that adventurous beginning of the trip, we were so thankful to be able to hop in the car and be driven around and not have to worry about directions. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the countryside of Reims; we went into a vineyard and walked through the rows of grapes, we stopped and got to take in the breath-taking views of the countryside (you could see groupings of vineyards for miles), but one of the highlights of the day was stopping at champagne caves along the way. We stopped at three champagne houses, one large house and two smaller houses where we got to experience the art and history of champagne making; like for example that Tattinger monks turned their abbey into a champagne house to make more money for their parish. The whole process was fascinating and really opened my eyes to the art of champagne. At each house we got to sample the different types of champagnes- brut, extra dry brut, rose…it was all delicious.

Our second champagne hosue we visited was in this little town outside of Reims, I mean this teeny tiny little town that had the most quintessential French country homes with old picket fences and rusty bikes outside the gates. Our guide stopped the car and opened this big green gate, exposing a dirt driveway to the house. It was old and charming and rustic but inside had all the bells and whistles of a modern champagnery. After a private tour of the caves we had the most amazing luncheon in the glass atrium of the house. It was the most simple, perfect and French meal accompanied by bottles of champagne. The sun came out and baked our cheeks as we enjoyed gorgeous tomatoes with olive oil, sausage rolls, fresh baguette, a crisp green summer salad and sweet cantaloupe for dessert. Gosh I could’ve sat there for hours soaking in the beautiful scenery and drinking the beautiful rose champagne until sunset. It was magical. Unfortunately we had to leave to head to yet another champagne house before heading back to Reims to catch the evening train back to Paris.

It was an absolutely wonderful and charming day, full of wonderful memories, beautiful scenery, delicious wine, amazingly simple food, and wonderful sights. Our guide dropped us off in the city center as we still had about 2 hours before our train left. Walking around the town ended up getting us horribly lost in a town that didn’t speak much English. We walked around for almost an hour and half trying to find the train station. Each person I asked would point in a different direction, getting us even more confused. In a last ditched effort I went into a bar and the bartender spoke English and gave us the (correct) directions but oh my gosh, our train was going to leave in 15 minutes and he said it was about a 10-15 minute walk. Needless to say we were in an absolute panic as it was the last train out for the evening. We booked it, running through town looking horribly tacky and ridiculous with BOTTLES of champagnes in our hands (as we obviously didn’t want to drop these lovely bottles). By the grace of God we ran right through town, through the train station and onto the train just minutes before the doors shut and the train took off. We stood in the hallway hysterically laughing, not even believing that we made the train. Needless to say, we ended our day trip in quite the memorable way.

My advice: after the tour, have them drop you off at the train station directly and then just walk and explore from there so you know where you’re going…unless you’d like to run through city center with bottles of champagne looking like the most RIDICULOUS Americans ever; then have at it!