After leaving the serenity of Monet's Garden and the Giverny area, we were booked for 2 nights into a very homely B&B in Amiens. We drove to Amiens via the seaside town of Dieppe, where stopped for a quick lunch and a lay on stones!
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| Tea in the garden on arrival - kids quick to enjoy the space |
Amiens was our base to visit Villers Bretonneux (the town saved by Australian / Victorian Soldiers in WW1) and surrounding battle areas. It had a very different feel to that of home being your standing on land, and in parts, literally above unfound bodies of soldiers whom died in the most horrendous of wars. The Australian memorial was real special to visit along with the Canadian and American - that said there are multiple smaller memorials dotted continually throughout the region.
Leaving Amiens we headed to the local floating gardens where houses developed long ago in a area of chanels where access is only by boat. They now remain as a tranquil escape from the towns center.
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| My beautiful wife and gorgeous Liv Liv. |
We now headed to the Champagne region - another important part on the itinerary. We had another 2 night stay in a well loved Chataeu. While here it was also Claire's 11th B'day.
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| Birthday morning breakfast. |
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| Even in France we need to know the time - Happy B'day ♡♡ |
The Chataeu was in a town called Chateau Theirry. From here a short drive to both Reims and Epernay the best known towns in the Champagne region. Time again was the difficulty in fitting everything in without making the days ridiculously long.
Taittinger was the first place visited and a seriously mind blowing experience, given they have tens tems of kilometers of tunnels first used by the Romans under the Abbey. We were approx 30m below ground in perfect conditions for cellaring champagne. Tens of thousands of bottles stored. Hmmmmm. The final tasing was also worth the wait.
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| The Good stuff - possibly David Wards? |
The afternoon was on the other end of the scale. A very small private grower were it was on a booking only arrangements - he was very very generous with his time and there was no charge or obligation - so we left with 4 bottles!
A special home cooked meal by our hosts at the Chateau celebrated Claire's birthday with one of those amazing cakes from a small country town patisserie.
Moet was plan for the next day but unfortunately the English speaking tours were booked and we visited Mercier - one of the locals more preferred larger Champagn Houses.
It's very well established and interestingly, the large barrel below, over 3 stories high, was exhibited at the World Fair back in 1889 and was the second most visited attraction - the first being the Eiffel Tower (stiff competition).
We also visited the small town high on the hill where the founder of Champagne, Dom Perignon had lived and was laid in a tomb in the town church. It also gave us a drive through the vines - which are all very strictly controlled in the Champagne region.
We then drove further south to Troyes where we stayed a night. This small town still has many buildings in the town center in the old medi eval style. A great visual lesson for the girls (and us).
Ange had read about some huge factory outlets based there, but luckily again for me they weren't what we thought they would be and the cases haven't been added to.
Three hours drive south (taking the countryside routes) and we have arrived deeper into the South of France at Beaune. We have a 5 night stay in a very quaint cottage style property with small garden bursting with lots of green and flowers. A perfect setting to relax.
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| Breakfast with my beautiful wife on the first morning. |
The town is beautiful and set to some degree, behind the old castle walls. It is a big wine region (Cote de Beaune a sub region of Burgundy) and there are so many restaurants, wine houses and bottle shops it's hard to walk to far without stopping. However we are planning to do a lot more cooking and chilling out - silly as it may sound it's our first chance to stop which is what yesterday (our first full day) was about. A bit of a sleep in and lazy start (with a few work emails) then going for a run with Ange, breakfast in the sun (above), reading and taking the kids to park before cooking the nights dinner. Perfect - Trei Bien!!
Today was just as lovely, after another morning run I had my first Skype session with the office - because I could more than I had too. The team are all doing a brilliant job - my sincere thanks to you all!
We then all went for a walk and bought some wine and Ange finally scored a lovely top, while I eyed some shoes. We had booked lunch at a lovely restaurant (le jardin des remparts) which was our best meal so far. A perfect setting and just great food. I even went the snails. The perfect finish was the take home boxes with small delicious cake style muffins (not a French term!).
On our way back we toured the the Musse Hotel-Dieu, a 14th century hospital, well known for its multi mosaic colored roof. It was all done to help the poor and needy - a great example that charity and giving has been always needed.
And now I'm back on the couch, typing, watching the tennis and again enjoying Champagne with Angela. She's also done an amazing job in all the planning and research and it's certainly paying off - Thanks xx.
Until next week
The Happy Traveller.
Photos of Beaune;
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| Escargot - quite honestly, Amazing |
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| The take home box, 1 of 2 :) |
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| That reads 1443 - just a few years of age! |
The famous tiled roof.
And more photos from the past week;
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| The school at Villers Bretonneux built by donation of Victorian school kids, the Australian anthem is sung weekly and our flag flies with theirs pro U |
