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!
