We have spent the last week showing Al around Epernay and the surrounding area. On our first night we went to dinner at La Banque which has a Champagne by glass menu of about 50 different champers houses from the area. Quite impressive indeed.

Our meal was sensational. Greg enjoyed his Steak Tartare and Rhonda’s turbot with Champagne sauce was sensational. It was a great night swapping travel stories.

The next day we spent wandering the town but we did enjoy a bottle of Champers at Pierre Mignon Tasting House. We loved the fancy cheese that accompanied the champers.

We took Al on a drive along the Rue de Touristique de Champagne. The first stop was the boys favourite Champagne House, the House of Bollinger. Sadly the gates were locked and Rhonda would not let them ring the bell.

Even though we had driven the vineyard roads many times the views were still stunning.

We stopped for a beer at our “bateau” bar to hydrate and then we enjoyed a great picnic lunch.

The afternoon was spent at the family Champagne House of the hosts of our AirBnB, Roger Constant Lemaire. We were given a free tour and tasting and had a wonderful time.

We did enjoy their champagne and came home with a few bottles of their lovely champers.There are quite a few funny stories to tell about our tour which will be kept for when we return home if you are interested!
The following day was declared a day of rest so we spent the day at home consuming the champers purchased the previous day! What a way to spend a lazy Sunday!

We also drove to the pretty little village of Hautvillers which is where Champagne life began thanks to Dom Pierre Perignon, the spiritual father of Champagne. He was a Benedictine Monk who came to the Abbey of Hautvillers in 1668 and for 47 years he acted as manager, builder, legal specialist and above all else a winegrower and wine maker. His aim was to make the best wine in the world.

His wine was served in the Palace of Versailles and he was a visionary who developed revolutionary grape growing and wine making techniques. To Dom Perignon, we say a HUGE THANK YOU. Of course we needed to visit the Abby Church of Saint-Sindulphe in the village so that Rhonda could say a personal thank you to him.

We had a lovely morning wandering around the streets of the village, not a lot of people, and very quiet.

The village is also known for its old wrought iron signs hanging from the houses.

We then headed back to Epernay to the Moët and Chandon Champagne House ( the owner of Dom Perignon) to take one more photo of Dom to finish our “Birth of Champagne”tour. We spent the afternoon in our lovely cool apartment with its brand new air conditioning ( another story in that) whilst the outside temperature rose to 37 degrees!

So sadly our 5 week stay in Epernay becomes a memory tomorrow as head to Paris, and thank God the Olympics have finished. We leave Barney at CDG airport, and take a train into the Opera district for a 4 night stay.
Cannot believe that in one week we will be on a plane heading home!

We are dropping Al at the airport for him to continue his journey

So it’s now time to pack the bags!

Maybe one more blog if you are lucky!

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda.

xxxxx