SuperDave's Adventures in Eastern France's Wine Country COMPLETE!! 6/13 About This Page:

[SuperDave]

Arrived back at my hotel around 6 pm after a long walking day in Paris. I have a 8pm reservation for a wine dinner at O-Chateau, where I had the wine class yesterday. I was a bit hesitant in making another reservation at the same place, but this one is a bit different than the other.

Had some time to kill, when I got there so, no better way to have a glass of wine, while I wait. I think it was a Chardonnay.


This is the wine bar at O-Chateau. Quite an interesting set up as I've never seen wines on tap before. Quite a few of them as you can see.

The dinner began at around 8 pm and there were about 10-12 of us. Mostly Americans and a few Canadians. There were four wines and each paired with each course. We started off with a glass of Champagne which was accompanied by a small appetizer. Can't remember what it was.



Salmon Tartare with a mixed salad. I've had this a number of times and unfortunately this wasn't that great. Something was missing as it wasn't that flavorful. It was paired with a Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley produced by Domaine ded Guyons. The wine was certainly better than the salmon.

Next was a beef filet with green beans and potato puree. This was much better than the salmon Forgot to take a photo of this one. The beef was paired with Cabernet Sauvignon in the Bordeaux region and more specifically Haut-Medoc from Chateau Belgrave. This was a great wine.




Now it was dessert time and we were served a chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. That was excellent and paired with a mucat type wine from Languedoc and Saint Chinian. It's produced by Mas Champart with three types of grape varieties (Grenache, Carignan and Syrah. It's a dessert wine and was sweet of course and enjoyable.

The sommelier was very generous with the wine and kept coming around and pouring whatever we wanted more of. We all had several glasses of wine after 2 1/2 hours at this dinner. It was well worth it and had a great time. Just wish the salmon had been better.

[SuperDave]

Returned to the Saint Germain area by Metro to the Odeon station around 11 pm. Went to the same cafe as last night Cafe des Deux Magots. Another famous cafe is across the street being Cafe Flore. Went to the former as the person I hung out with last night was there with his girlfriend from London. He works in London.

So she only stayed for a little while and we had a couple of cognacs and went to an Irish pub close by for a few beers. I did buy a round this time as I insisted, but he put the rest of the drinks on his expense account. Stayed out to after 2 am and would find out the next day that this was a mistake on two consecutive nights.


Rue Clement with my hotel on left

Saint Germain Boulevard in the early hours of Sunday morning.

[purplegal]

Great pictures, you are off to a good start. I am enjoying all the details.

[SuperDave]

Just a question for all of you. The link to this thread is underneath my signature. Would like to change it, so it appears as the title of the thread and not just the web (http address). Anyone have any idea how to this? I know it can be done as I did in the past, but forget how? Went to the various options in editing my signature, but couldn't figure how to do it. Someone bail me out please! Thanks!

[chezp]

Wow, you have been busy with the updates!

If you want your link to appear in your text, highlight the text in your signature, then click on the globe with the link in front of it icon (that's the best description I can come up with! ) and then it will ask you to add in the web link.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by purplegal

Great pictures, you are off to a good start. I am enjoying all the details.

Glad you're enjoying them. Much more to come!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

Wow, you have been busy with the updates!

If you want your link to appear in your text, highlight the text in your signature, then click on the globe with the link in front of it icon (that's the best description I can come up with! ) and then it will ask you to add in the web link.

Cheryl,
Glad you're enjoying my TR! Much more ahead. Seems that a lot of members concentrate on the Disney TRs rather than this section so much. Just an observation.

You're tip worked very easily. Thanks for your help!

[SuperDave]

Sunday, 5 May

Well it was time to leave Paris. Well, after being out to 2 am the last two nights, it caught up with me. I overslept and woke up around 9:30 am. Unfortunately, I had a train reservation at 10:30 am.

I still had to check out of the hotel, pack up a few items in my bags and make sure I didn't leave any thing behind. After this, I walked the few minutes to the Metro station and one came almost immediately. It was about 10:20 and there were six stops to Le Gare d'Est station, where I would take the high speed TGV to Reims. I knew for sure, I wasn't going to make it.

I arrived at the station at just before 10:35, but unfortunately, it's quite a walk from the Metro station to the trains. Well, I missed my train so I asked a few people, in my limited French, where the ticket office was. Went to an information office and they told me where to go. The office is for SNCF line, which is like the French equivalent of Amtrak. Well, since I had a reservation and it was prepaid and missed my train, I knew I'd be paying extra. Next time, I'll buy a Flex-ticket. I didn't since, I wasn't traveling to Reims on my arrival day in Paris. The woman in the office was very helpful and got a reservation on the next TGV to Reims, which was 12:55 pm. I wound up paying an extra $40, but at least I'd be getting to Reims in a few hours. Might be best not to stay out so late on consecutive nights! I suppose this counters the free drinks I got in Paris?

I had a bit under two hour till my train, so grabbed a coffee and a croissant and just basically hung out at the station, which is quite nice and clean. Very organized with the train departures and arrivals on many monitors throughout. The station is very open and you can see all the trains arriving and departing. Many of the European rail stations are like this.

Just before getting on the train, I validated my ticket in one of the portable machines near the tracks. You don't have to this in the USA, but most of Europe you have to, even if you have a valid ticket. I think if you don't and they check your ticket, you may have to pay a small fee.

About 15 minutes before departure it was time to board and I had a seat on the upper deck of the train in the Premier Class section. It was comfortable and quiet. The train left on time for the 45 minute journey to Reims. It took a while to get up to speed, but when it finally did, the speed we were traveling at was incredible and smooth! A monitor in the car had the speed at one point at 330 KPH or 190 mph. That's fast, but I know some of the trains in Japan are even higher than this. It took about 10 minutes to slow the train down and arrived in time at around 1:45 pm. I would be meeting my group for the first time in a few hours to begin the tour and actually a few of them were on the train with me.

[SuperDave]

Exiting Reims' train station was a bit tricky as you depart the train and go downstairs and into a short tunnel underneath the tracks and come upstairs again. Just to get from one side of the tracks to the station itself. We were provided directions to our first hotel, but really didn't need them, since as soon as I left the station and crossed the street, my hotel was right there. That's convenience!


Staying at the Hotel Continental. Have a good room on the 2nd floor with a very spacious bath.



The hotel is located in probably the best part of Reims, being close to the train station and bus lines. There are many cafes, restaurants and bars lined all along this street. Quite convenient. It's basically the pedestrian city center as no cars are allowed here, until you walk a bit north as there is just roundabout they're allowed to use for access to the other avenues.

[SuperDave]

It was time for some lunch and it was about 2:30 pm. Most of the restaurants were closing down until dinner at this point in this area. Found a place still open, just across the street from my hotel. It was another nice day, so having lunch outside was the way to go. Funny, that this same eatery would be also where I'd have dinner with my group tonight! We'd be inside tonight and the menu quite different.

The place was Le Grand Cafe and they have quite an extensive menu. I went with the smoked and raw salmon tartare. It was much better than the one I had in Paris. This was accompanied by more bread of course and a glass of white wine from the Bourgogne region. It seemed similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

At 5 pm our Rick Steves' Wine Regions of Eastern France group met for the first time. Just to get to know one another and our tour director Toni, who lives in the Britanny region of France, but is originally from England. We had a small group of 14 of us from different parts of the USA including, southern and northern California, Oregon, Arizona, Montana, Minnesota, myself from Connecticut and another from Vancouver, Canada. Just went over what we'd be covering and seeing during the next 13 nights together. This lasted about an hour and of course there was wine to go along with it. Seemed like it was going to be an awesome trip with a great group and tour director.

Later around 6:30 or so Toni gave us a brief walking tour of the area, to become familiar with the town and locations for eateries, stores and ATMs. I have plenty of info in my guidebook, but it's always good to get a little tour like this, firsthand to become familiar with a particular area.

It was time for dinner at Le Grand Cafe and was quite impressed with the cuisine. It wasn't a completely set menu, being we had a group, but we had three choices in each appetizer, main course and dessert. Prior to this, enjoyed a Kir aperitif. It's a combination of black currant liqueur and white wine. Sometimes champagne is substituted. Surprised, being that we're in the Champagne capital.

For an appetizer, I had a platter of mixed salad with various hams, salamis and cornichons. The main course was duck confit for me. It's a duck leg cooked in it's own fat. It doesn't stay within the meat but you get the flavor. I've had this a few times and this was easily the best I've had. One time being at Chefs de France in Epcot and wasn't impressed that much with theirs. This restaurant really knew how to cook it perfect! . Dessert was a French cliche and Creme Brulee. During the meal I enjoyed a nice helping of red Bordeaux wine. Overall, an excellent meal. With many tours, when you have group dinners, the food isn't always that good and this certainly was. Rick Steves' tour as I found out from the previous tour to Italy I took, that all the dinners with the group were all very good and usually have several choices. There was no supplement fee for this as many tours do. They get you in at a lower price and tack in all these optional and supplemental fees for meals, sightseeing trips and tipping.

[SuperDave]

A few of us sometime after dinner around 9:45 or so went to visit Notre Dame Cathedral of Reims. Not to be confused with Quasimoto's. They have a light show which is projected on the facade of the church with various images.





Fountain on the pedestrian street, while walking to Notre Dame. Looks pretty cool all lit up.

We arrived at Notre Dame, just as the show was starting. It was accompanied by some classical music. Can't remember exactly what it was.

Here are a couple of videos of the show, to give you an idea of what I saw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO03C...4sTmBfnMQ5pDdg

Sound and Light Show on the Reims Cathedral - YouTube




These look amazing and a great way to begin my trip in Eastern France. I took many more than these of the show, but since it was night, some photos didn't turn out well.

After the show stopped at a cafe for an expresso and a cognac. Headed in much earlier than Paris at around 11:30 pm.

[SuperDave]

Monday, 6 May

Woke up at around 7 am and slept quite well. Breakfast selections downstairs in the dining room are mostly continental fair. This isn't the USA so no eggs, sausage or bacon. A croissant, orange juice and coffee is enough to get me started for the day.

One thing I've noticed about Europe is no matter what hotel or country I'm in, the coffee for breakfast is pretty bad. If you want good coffee for breakfast your best bet is at a cafe.


Relaxed in the lobby of our hotel, waiting for our group on a walking tour of Reims. The chairs were so comfortable here, that it would be easy to take a little siesta here. Didn't want to get up!
Left on our walking tour of Reims at around 9:15 am or so. Not sure how the weather would hold out as it was completely overcast and rain was in the forecast.

Reims was quite a historic town at one time, until much of it was bombed by the Germans during World War I from 1914-18. It's been completely rebuilt in much of the same style of architecture that it was before WWI. There are many tributes and sites relating to WWI as well as WWII in Reims. Unfortunately, I didn't write down what all my photos are, but I'll do my best to recall them.




This is the World War II Garden in Reims. One of the many French soldiers from Reims who died in combat during the war.

[chezp]

I am so with you about people often not realising what's on offer in this forum, but then again, we are a Disney message board, so I guess that's understandable.

Sorry you missed your first train to Reims, but glad you made it in the end. It's a beautiful city and the cathedral is lovely - we only saw it in the daytime, but the night-time show is amazing.

[lauriep]

Enjoying reading about your travels. It's true-- this forum is wonderful! I've re-visited so many places I've been to and virtually traveled to places I've never been here. I always learn something and am constantly adding places to my wish list!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

I am so with you about people often not realising what's on offer in this forum, but then again, we are a Disney message board, so I guess that's understandable.

Sorry you missed your first train to Reims, but glad you made it in the end. It's a beautiful city and the cathedral is lovely - we only saw it in the daytime, but the night-time show is amazing.

That show at night was quite something. Most of the photos I took of that didn't come out that well, being it was night, but at least a couple were good.

So much to see on this board and can be overwhelming at times of where to start. It is a great board!