We loaded up the truck and headed for Beverly.... no wait, we loaded up the estate and headed for la manche.
Our first stop was the Chateau de Barive, a beautiful old house on spacious grounds way out in the countryside!
In the city of Laon, we took the Poma 2000 up to the old town. Don's a sucker for early '80s transit technology.
The Cathedral there isn't bad either. It's best known for its charming gargoyles.
Sooz window shopped, but we saved
our euros for the local specialty!
Speaking of which, we toured
the Veuve Clicquot caves. Here's
Sooz descending their staircase.
There's apparently 24km of storage in a Roman quarry; we saw just a fraction. (And no, this isn't a photo of our basement, this is in the caves!)
Our tour ended with a tasting, just
one glass each. To start, that is.
La Grande Dame, indeed!
We bought a few very special vintages, we'll save those for when the Cubs win the World Series! (Don't worry, it keeps for decades...)
On to the region of Champagne
itself, our room there had a
spectacular view down the valley
below, to the village of Epernay.
The vinyards just below us still had a
few grapes on the vines, although the main harvest had been weeks ago.
The villages around Epernay were filled with lots of little champagne makers.
Each was as charming and picturesque as you would have expected! We walked from door to door, like alcohol-imbibing trick-or-treaters.
Sooz with Pascal Autreau, from whom
we purchased a few vintages.
Pierre Leboeuf also shared a
glass of his brut with us!
Don was into the act, too, with a
few bottles from Emile Hamm.
All that sampling made Sooz sleepy
(and Ollie too, for some reason!)
A good nights' sleep, and then
it's back on the road!
For breakfast, we stopped for a pain
au raisin on the way to the next champagne house.
Don't worry, though. We ate well in
the evenings. Very, very well.
Dogs are allowed just about
everywhere, so Ollie joined us for
dinner even in the fancy places.
In one brasserie, he took a keen
interest in their displays!
This being France, we stumbled across a protest of some sort and Don naturally showed solidarity with the protesters.
It appeared Veuve Clicquot employees were unhappy with Moët & Chandon for some reason. It was all rather jolly. We think some product was involved!
Don kept up his tradition of haircuts
in French provincial towns, this
time in Reims.
The Cathedral there is a fantastic
Gothic structure, in fact, there's
two of them in this photo!
We stopped by the Surrender Museum. It's not what you think; it's where the Germans surrendered to Eisenhower.
We also visited a hypermarket to
top up our wine cellars as it's a
heck of a lot cheaper than the UK!
Sooz safely home with her booty.
Visit us quick before it's all gone!