It started out as a gray day in Paris. In the morning my wife walked the two youngest grandchildren to school. Then after a short walk to the metro with limited luggage, we headed to one of the many train stations where you can hop on a fast train to other parts of Europe. Taking the recommendation of a former colleague of mine who was a French teacher for many years, my wife and I boarded a train headed to the city of Reims, in the world famous region of Champagne. In just 45 minutes we were at the train station of our destination and the sun was trying to break through the clouds. I had made reservations for an afternoon group tour (with an English speaking guide) of the area surrounding Reims. We were to meet outside the Tourist Information center in front of the train station. We were early, so we walked the short distance to the Hotel De l’Arcade and checked into our room. The city is pretty flat, which makes it easy to walk. The hotel was situated within a 20 minute walk to everything I wanted to see, and it was very close to shopping and Notre Dame Cathedral of Reims, which were the two planned activities for my wife.
After dropping off our bags, we walked back to the meeting point and met our guide and driver, Tom, who introduced us to a coworker, named Elise, who would be traveling with us. He then gave us a brief overview of the tour with a slightly British accent. We loaded into the comfortable van that we would travel in for the four and a half hour tour. Though I booked the tour through Get your Guide, the tour operator was actually A la Française. Tom (shown in the photo above taken as he was explaining the secondary fermentation process) was very knowledgeable about the geography and geology of the area, the history of the region, and the champagne making process. He was also good at making the people (in our case, three groups of two) who did not know each other before the trip, form a happy troop.
There are many different tours one can do in Champagne, but this one fit our schedule and seemed like it would give us the most for our money. It was both educational and fun. We saw idyllic landscapes, briefly toured Epernay. tasted champagne from two different small producers and visited the abbey where the monk, Dom Pérignon, is credited for having conceived the idea of the bubbly drink that became known throughout the world. The tour was even better than I expected it would be thanks to lots of little things like Tom’s explanation of how Reims is properly pronounced. He said, “Think how a Frenchman would say France, then drop the F.” I would never have guessed that by the way Reims is spelled. We purchased a bottle of champagne from each of the two “houses” we visited. I now have a better understanding of why champagne is so popular and appreciate the nuances of flavor more than before the tour.
We returned to the meeting point and were dropped off with plenty of time to say au revoir to our new friends; then walk back through the streets that were being prepared for Christmas, to the famous Cathedral, and then make our way back to the restaurant where we had a dinner reservation. What started as a gray day in Paris finished very nicely in Reims.
The next day started with a very good breakfast at the hotel. I had most of the rest of the day to wander Reims and take some more photographs. Reims is rich in culture and in old churches that really give a sense of the importance of Catholicism to the history of France. The Cathedral is quite impressive. No wonder it was the site chosen by more than any other, as the coronation location for the many Kings of France. After visiting Notre Dame, I think my wife appreciated a little time to herself to explore the shopping district. She doesn’t see the need to try to see it all and thankfully doesn’t feel the need to buy it all. Though, this time she did get herself a nice leather coat. Later in the afternoon, while attempting to visit the Basilica of St. Remi, I found myself (without planning to be there) at a truffle fair; where I learned a little more about the delicacy. I met a kind lady and her husband (who were both about my age) who had a booth at the fair. She spoke English well and we had a nice conversation about truffles and life. She gifted me a book (in French) as I was leaving about the unique, mutualistic, subterranean organisms that I used to talk about when teaching the unit on the Kingdom Fungi. For photos from our two days in Reims, click here.