We decided to go to Paris for the long weekend. We decided to spend the night in Epernay in the Champagne region on the way there so that we could have a shorter drive Friday night and get to see something new.
We left Friday after work so didn’t arrive in Epernay until 11:30 pm. I reserved a room at the Premiere Classe hotel which was a budget hotel (45 euro a night). It had gotten good reviews on TripAvisor and it was supposed to be next to a park or what I thought was a park. Apparently Parc D’Activities in French means industrial park. Oops!
The hotel was nice and clean but I do find it entertaining that the cheaper the hotel or crappier the apartment complex the more pretentious the name. There were some apartments near our house in Littleton named the Beaux Manor Apartments and they were anything but beaux. Likewise, the Premiere Classe Hotel was definitely not a First Class Hotel but for 45 Euros it was a great deal.
The next morning we walked the 10 minutes into the center of Epernay to visit a Cave de Champagne. We wanted to visit a smaller, less commercialized cave but the only one open at 10:30am was the behemoth Moet et Chandon. I guess most people wait until after 12:00 to start drinking Champagne.
The hour long tour was actually really informative. I didn’t realize how involved champagne was but now I understand why it can be so expensive.
I was surprised to discover that champagne is made from a mix of 3 grapes. Moet et Chandon use Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier to make their champagne along with some old wine so that they can keep a consistent flavor from year to year. They pick all of the grapes by hand so that none of the red grapes get bruised and result in coloring the wine. All three grape harvests are pressed individually and then blended together after they can determine the flavor of the grapes. The first fermentation process yields wine and then yeast and sugar are added to the mix for the second fermentation creating the bubbles. The longer the champagne ages, the smaller the bubbles get which more desirable.
After the 2nd fermentation, they tilt the bottles neck down and turn the bottles ¼ of a turn every day by hand for 8 weeks so that the yeast deposits settle in neck of the bottle. The neck of the bottle is then frozen to create a little yeast ice cube and removed.
I didn’t realize that they don’t make vintage champagne every year. There must be an extraordinary harvest for them to use only the grapes of that year. The last vintage Moet et Chanson made was in 2003 and the magnum bottle of that vintage started at 20,000 Euros.
The tour was conducted underground in the champagne cellars. There are 110 kilometers of cellars underneath the town of Epernay. I can’t even begin to image how many bottles of Champagne must be stored underneath the town. Sabine was even shocked by the sheer amount of Champagne that surrounded us.
Of course the Champagne tour wouldn’t be complete without a tasting. Sabine was just a little too young for some Champagne but she certainly enjoyed watching the bubbles in the glass.
After our tour we went for lunch at La Grillade Gourmande (www.lagrilladegourmande.com). It was a Michelin recommended restaurant and was a bit off the beaten track so wasn’t overrun with tourists. It was the best meal that we’ve had in France. We started with some Champagne and a dozen oysters. For the main course we shared a grilled Dorado filet with basil oil and grilled beef tournedos with fois gras. Although the dishes were simple with few ingredients, they were cooked perfectly and the wood fire imparted a lot of flavor to both dishes. We ended the meal with cheese for me and Chocolat Moelleux for Jim.
We arrived at the Veyron’s a bit late for dinner due to some traffic in Paris which made for a late evening as dining at the Veyron’s is always a lengthy affair. Their meals routinely start in the living room with cocktails and crackers. We then retire to the dining room for the main course, followed by salad (the French always eat their salad after the main meal) then the cheese course, dessert, coffee and then cocktails back in the living room. The French certainly know how to eat but sometimes you just want a quick bite and an early bedtime.
The next day we had a lazy morning sitting outside reading in the sun and watching their Jack Russell balance a soccer ball on its head. I think they could get that dog in the movies. He is amazing. Of course the chickens on their property don’t find him very amazing since he has killed a lot of their brethren. They are now forced to live in a tiny cage while he has free rein of the entire property.
We planned to visit Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverney that day but after the marathon lunch with the Veyrons, we didn’t get on the road until almost 2:30. We then got a bit lost thanks to our trusty (or not so trusty) GPS so close to 4:00 by the time we got to Giverney. Being a holiday weekend with glorious weather the parking situation was not good. It took us 30 minutes to find a parking place a few kilometers away. Unfortunately once we finally got to Monet’s house, the line to get in was long and Sabine was hungry so we decided to pass on the whole thing.
That night we packed all our stuff up and moved over to Jim’s friend, Andrew’s house. We had our first al fresco dinner of the season on Andrew’s balcony. It was a relaxing evening even with the male bonding banter that is inevitable when two guys get together.
The next day Andrew and Jim went out for a ride while I explored the little subdivision Andrew lives in. His area is very quiet and family friendly for being so close to Paris. It is bordered by a hilly forest on one side and an open meadow on the other.
After a very typical French lunch of omlette, cheve chaud salad, baguette and cheese, we drove to Versailles.
We wanted to see the gardens but didn’t want to pay for them or go anywhere near the main entrance which would be a mobbed on a holiday weekend in beautiful weather. Andrew thought we could actually walk into the back of the gardens from a farm with a petting zoo. We decided to visit the farm first but Sabine wasn’t too interested in the animals. Surprisingly she didn’t even flinch when one of the donkeys started braying like crazy. It scared me but she was unfazed.
We found out that the Versailles gardens were 8 k away from the farm and the gardens closed the gates at 7:00. Since it was already after 5:00 we decided to just go to the town and get dinner. However, on our way there we stumbled across a place where you could actually drive into the gardens and park. We only had about 90 minutes but had a nice time strolling around the gardens among the statues and topiaries.
We drove home to Bonn the next day but stopped at an amazing restaurant we found in the Michelin guide. The restaurant was located 2k off of the highway next to a budget hotel in a town of maybe 100. Only in France do you find gourmet restaurants next to the equivalent of a Super 8 Motel in a podunk town.
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