I woke up early to check my email. Emilie confirmed that the trains are cancelled as they are still having many strikes in France. I don't want to risk getting there and not being able to get back. So Emilie found us a car with Sixt Car Rental - not inexpensive, but at least we'll get to go to Reims.
We went to Starbucks for coffee and then to Gare de Lyon. We easily found Sixt and got our car and were on our way. We had an integrated GPS in the car but it took us north to Charles de Gaulle Airport - I thought this was way out of the way to Reims but little do I know about the roads. This became evident later.
It took us over 2 hours to get to Reims and there was a good bit of traffic. I couldn't believe that there wasn't a big highway from Paris to Reims (more on this later). Tim drove - thank goodness. We found a parking garage at the Cathedral and spent time walking around and looking at it. All but 2 of the Kings of France were crowned at this cathedral. It has a rich history as it was bombed in the World Wars - but it is stunning and beautiful. Restoration work is still underway on the outside, but we enjoyed the visit.
The front of the Reims Cathedral
Beautiful carved statues around the entry way
Beautiful stained glass
An awesome sight - the Reims Cathedral
Stained glass - the middle panel tells the story of the champagne making process in Champagne
The Chagall windows in the Reims Cathedral
Replica of the Reims Cathedral on display
Awesome sights inside throughout
The small organ in the Reims Cathedral
Outside on the side - in many ways I like this cathedral more than Notre Dame in Paris
The museum next to the Reims Cathedral
The back of the Reims Cathedral with the Chagall windows
We retrieved the car and went to Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin for our tour at 2 pm. Our guide was excellent and told us a lot about Madame Clicquot. Veuve means "widow" as her husband who took over the winery from his father had died and she took over the business and improved it. There is quite a "branding" approach to Madame Clicquot. The tour was excellent - and lasted 1 1/2 hours. Then we got to sample of glass of the Grand Dame champagne. It was so good.
The winery garden at Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
Our guide was excellent - he made Madame Clicquot into quite a character
There are almost domed 500 crayeres where the chalk had been mined - now all connected and turned into the caves for the vintners. People lived here during the wars.
All bottles of Veuve Clicquot are stored in these caves for years before labeling and shipping
After 40 years of service, employees are allowed to chose a "crayere" and their name is mounted on the wall. This employee, Albert Leriche, was an employee for 52 years and he had Crayere #5.
They had the "best years" for champagne on a walkway. 1947 was highlighted as one of the "best of the best"!
Our guide at the wine tasting. He explained the kinds of glasses to use and how to open champagne - different that what I've been doing. Also, it should "whisper" not pop (even though he admitted that popping is a lot more fun!).
A map of the "champagne region" - we actually didn't see ANY vineyards in Reims!
Tim was anxious to get back to Paris so we got in the car and turned on "Samantha" - the new GPS. She started taking us a different way and that's when I saw that there was a peage to Paris. I discovered that the GPS had been set to 'avoid toll roads' so this morning it took us the 'back way'. Tim was pissed. But I corrected the GPS and off we went on the peage back to Paris. It cut the trip in half to the city and that made him happy!
Traffic was heavier leaving Paris than going into Paris. I had thought we should get petrol on the peage where it is easy but Tim wanted to get it when we were back in Paris. That turned out to be a big mistake. We made it into the city and had trouble finding a petrol station. It took over an hour and a half to fill up the car. The first station wouldn't take my credit card - debit cards with chips only. The second didn't sell diesel. The third said his pump wasn't working (Tim didn't believe him and was furious!). And we started out to find a fourth, but I decided it would be best to find the Total Station from the other day. Samantha failed us! Where is that lawyer with the GPS when we need him????Tim swore the Total station was on the right bank but I knew it was on the Left Bank and I directed us right there. Whew!
We filled up and then the nightmare to get to Gare de Lyon at 5:30 pm on a Friday afternoon with strikes began. The traffic was awful. It took a while but we got there. I thought we were going to take out a couple of motorcycles and bikes on the way but we actually never moved that fast! All a creep to the station. We also ran into 2 diversions - what else could have gone wrong?
We got into the garage to drop off the car. The agent couldn't pull up our contract on his computer so he wrote things down on a piece of paper and we had to take it to the office to complete the contract. The LINE at the Sixt counter was out of the door with people trying to rent cars due to the strike. Tim went and had a coffee while I waiting in line. Took about 30 minutes but I got it all done and then we were on our way back to the hotel. At least having the car allowed us to see Reims, the cathedral, and Veuve Clicquot.
After the grueling traffic, we stopped to get another bottle of wine for happy hour today as we needed it. We enjoyed that in our room today as it was air conditioned and it was almost 90 in Paris today, so we stayed cool.
About 8 we left for Chez Omar, a Moroccan restaurant that Al Stewart had recommended. We got there before the rush hour for dinner and got a prime table on the street. It was very good and tasty. Chicken and Lamb with couscous. Chez Omar is in the Haut-Marais - an upcoming neighborhood. It was packed and we enjoyed it a lot. We both ate too much though - but what's new.
About 10:30 we walked back to the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais and finished packing. Things are really tight in the bags since we are each taking 2 bottles of wine back. I'm just hopeful that Tim's 1965 bottle of wine will make it home.
Off to bed - up very early for a 6:30 taxi pickup to go to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Our last day of this adventure.
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