Tag Archives: Reims

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France and Germany… a send off from the Army– Part 3

On our second day in the Champagne region, we enjoyed a typical French continental breakfast, then walked around Reims some more.  The Ibis had a pretty good spread for five euros…

I already miss the croissants…

We were marveling about how we could end up in France so suddenly.  Most people, when they plan a trip abroad, plan for months in advance.  We just picked up our stuff and headed for the most convenient Space A Pax terminal, which in our case was BWI.  Honestly, I would have liked to have gone to McGuire, which has recently been offering flights to Shannon, Ireland.  But we had set days we needed to make this trip happen and we didn’t want to waste any time.  So we went to Germany and then France…  I have to say, we had a great time!

The city hall in Reims… on the way to the beautiful cathedral.

Reims Cathedral…

 

I am a sucker for stained glass.  This cathedral also had some music softly playing.  I could tell Bill was starting to get really touched by it.

The outside… lots of scaffolding on the front because like many other cathedrals in Europe, Reims Cathedral is being restored.

Cool house!

I know what merde means.

Bill and I sat in this peaceful park for awhile, resting and catching our bearings after our walk around town.

We decided to take a day trip to Epernay, which is where a lot of the champagne caves and vineyards are.  We had a nice lunch at a brasserie.

Lasagne and some kind of carbonara were on the menu…  quite satisfactory!

We decided to have mid afternoon drinks at a bar that served French beers on tap as well as the Belgian styled Afflingen…  

The proprietor kept the door to the bathrooms locked, so every time I had to pee (frequently), I had to go get the key which had a champagne cork as a keychain.  It was kind of a lively little bar, though.  Lots of locals were in there enjoying themselves.

As Bill gazed at this intersection, he saw a young woman having a rather animated conversation with herself.  She finally stalked off in a rage at one point…

When it was time for dinner, we were back in Reims.  We found ourselves at a restaurant I had noticed around lunchtime by the enchanting aroma of something tasty.  We went inside and asked for a table and were fortunate to be able to get one… because this place was basically in a bomb shelter!

A young man of about twelve or thirteen who didn’t speak any English was trying to wait on us.  Soon, a young woman, rumored on Trip Advisor to be Belgian, came out and translated the menu for us.  I got the sense that it was her place.  She took a keen interest in making sure we enjoyed our meal.

Smoked salmon with a horseradish cream…

A delightfully creamy asparagus soup…

I had duck with vegetables and potatoes au gratin…

Bill had a lovely beef dish…

This was the special dessert of the day.  It was some kind of yogurt with cherry liqueur.  I don’t like yogurt much, so I passed it to Bill…

Bill gave me his warm strawberry rhubarb crumble, which was delicious.

 

As we were finishing our meals, a mixed French and American couple came in.  The man seemed nervous.  He was American and spoke what sounded like excellent French.  But he was ill at ease about the dining partners who would join them, an American couple whom they had obviously never met in person before.  The French lady was trying to reassure the guy, who didn’t seem to know where he should sit or what they should order in advance of the couple’s arrival.  When they did show up, I kind of wondered what was going on.  I have to admit, the thought that they were swingers crossed my mind.  Maybe I should write a short story about that scenario.  I’m sure the reality was far less salacious.  They were probably just trying to strike a business deal.

Anyway, that was one of the best meals of our trip.  We thoroughly enjoyed L’Alambic and would recommend it to others!

Cool little fountain in Reims…
Grape vines in Epernay…
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France and Germany… a send off from the Army– Part 2

My feet were horribly swollen after our long flight to Germany on the cramped plane.  

After a night’s rest, Bill and I decided to go to the Kaiserslautern train station.  We knew we wanted to go to France, but I also had an interest in visiting the Rhein.  We flipped a coin to determine where we would go next.  Heads would take us to Reims, France, which is Champagne country.  Tails would take us to the Rhein River.  Heads won, so we purchased train tickets from Kaiserslautern to Reims.  The train journey would take us to connections in Saarbrucken, Strasbourg, and Champagne-Ardennes before we reached our destination.  It was an all day affair.

On our way!

At one point, Bill ended up in the bar car to buy me the French equivalent of a sandwich you’d get at a gas station, along with a small bottle of wine.  Actually, it was pretty good.  I had a club sandwich, which had ham, bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato on very fresh wheat bread.  It had a nice mustard sauce on it, too.  The wine was local and excellent, of course.

I took this photo because I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen colored toilet paper.

Champagne! (check the sign)

Bill enjoys the view…

 

We got to the Reims train station in the late afternoon.  We didn’t have a hotel reservation and we were both still pretty jet lagged from our travels.  After fruitlessly trying to use the local interactive guide near the station with no Internet access, I finally suggested we hit the local Ibis.  You can pretty much find an Ibis hotel near most train stations in certain European countries.  Bill and I have stayed in a few of them during our travels.  They can be counted on to be clean, basic, and no frills.  The one near the Reims station is no exception, although they do sell champagne at a pretty good price at their little bar. We got a bottle of my favorite bubbly, Taittinger, for 42 euros.  Quite a bargain, given that we bought it at a hotel…

I thought it was funny that the hotel sold feminine hygiene products alongside its champagne…

The bar at the Reims Ibis.

Expensive bubbly at a cheap hotel!

We went out to dinner and ended up at this place called Cote Cuisine.  I think I was lured there by the sight of the cute little garden where they were serving dinner.  We didn’t have reservations and the waiters were very “weeded”– as in, they had more business than they could handle in a timely manner. It was okay, though.  The food was good and while the wait staff wasn’t all that friendly, we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Serrano ham appetizer…

Our first bottle of champagne…

I had turbot.  Bill had monkfish…

The turbot was delicious, but the sauce was totally sinful and made mostly of butter.  I love butter, but I had to eat that sauce very sparingly.

Bill loved the monkfish.  I didn’t try it because of the mushrooms in it, but he pronounced it delicious.

Chocolate and vanilla tart for me…  

Chocolate mousse for Bill…  I think?

We walked back to the Ibis and got some sleep in the no frills bed after enjoying more champagne…  I wish we’d had more time in Reims.  I would have liked to have visited some of the champagne houses. We did manage a day trip to Epernay, which is where the champagne is produced.  More on that in the next post.

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Champagne!

I have been wanting to visit the Champagne region of France for years.  This morning, we tossed a coin to decide where to go next.  Reims won over Bacharach, Germany… So here we are, after six hours on a train.  We booked a room at an Ibis, which is basically a cheap motel.

Then we had an amazing dinner… It was served by very weeded waiters who didn’t speak much English.  Now we’re drinking my favorite Champagne in our cheap motel room.  The room is tiny, but it’s clean and has all we need.  We will stay in Reims another night, then head somewhere else Wednesday.

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