Reims (France) -You ignorant entranger, its 'ranz'

REIMS (FRANCE)
02 August 2017

The gateway to Champagne country, the official capital of the wine growing region of Champagne, and the home base of many of the globally known Champagne houses, this was the place to come for our own small discovery and partake in tastings offered at the well known cellar doors.

Start of the day - a glass of champagne in Reims - Champage-Ardenne - France

You must know Louis Roederer!

Reims - Champage-Ardenne - France

The cellars of Taittinger - Reimes - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The cellars of Taittinger - Reimes - Champagne-Ardenne - France

But for goodness sake, don't turn up and pronounce their much loved capital with your standard Anglicised view of the world, because R-ee-ms will be met with such distaste, contempt and scorn that you'll wish you had at least attempted to figure it out in advance. For those that want to know, there's a lot of work that needs to be done on rolling the 'r' from the back of the throat and getting that 'eh' sounds right before even contemplating landing the the constant of 's', which in this case is pronounced. The final pronunciation should come our as close to ranze/ranse, suffice it to say that we blinked many times on first hearing.

Approximately 200kms directly south of Brussels is Champage heartland, although the driven route will make it around 275 and will take approximately 3hrs of fairly easy motoring. The roads here are tip-top and counter to a few notes that I've read on Tripadvisor, the drivers in both countries are civil and courteous, no loony toon Italians here.

Taittinger - Reimes - Champagne-Ardenne - France

Taittinger - Reimes - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The vineyards of Moet et Chandon - near Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The vineyards of Moet et Chandon - near Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The vineyards of Moet et Chandon - near Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The vineyards of Moet et Chandon - near Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The vineyards of Moet et Chandon - near Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

We elected to do a small day tour of the region which provided us with brief tour or Reims, which we also found out was the location where French Kings had been crowned for more than a 1000 years, and additionally of course, were visits to two famous Champagne houses, Taittinger & Moet et Chandon.

Additionally the tour took in the UNESCO listed Champagne Avenue in Epernay, the historic villae of Hautvillers and the beautiful visits around Epernay that help produce a product of impressively delicious quality.

Avenue de Champagne - Epernay - Champage-Ardenne - France

Epernay - Champage-Ardenne - France

The cellars of Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

The cellars of Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

We did have one complete moment of stupefaction and that was during the tasting component of the Moet et Chandon tour in Epernay. There we were, prepared to be offered a glass or two at the end of the tour. Ahead of us a Chinese tour party were at the tasting table/bar, with drinks handed out. As they received their drinks most of them stood there, took photos, chatted very briefly and then some,  but not all, took the slightest hint of a sip before placing the glasses back onto the table. All the members from our tour group observed and then wondered internally, with no real confidence but with some evidence, whether they would in fact leave their glasses untouched. The group of perhaps 15 milled around for a few minutes, no particularly concerned with their glasses and all the while seeming to be eyeing off the exit. Then it happened. The head of the party simply walked out and the rest all followed leaving their full glasses of champagne on the table, just sitting their, unloved and unwanted. 

Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

Can you believe this is what was left!!? Oh, what a WASTE!!!

Moet et Chandon - Epernay - Champagne-Ardenne - France

In complete dismay we all looked at one another. What exactly was the protocol in a situation like this? Would it be a gross misjudgement, beyond all dignity and good manners to start drinking these abandoned glasses? Of course there was our own personal sense of decorum, and the issue with hygiene, but C'MON, certainly we couldn't let these perfectly fantastic glasses of champagne disappear into the ether.

But we did, sadly. And it hurt.

Our day ended back in Ranz where Inga & I had a glass of champagne to celebrate the day. Another gem on our honeymoon of excellence.

Chamonix (FRANCE) - Snowriders

Chamonix (France)

10 September - 11 September 2015

Warren Miller's 1995 movie 'Snowriders'. That's when I discovered both Chamonix and the Counting Crows, it was also about that time that my passion for snowboarding was ignited. When I look back at that movie now it actually looks and feels like a movie made in the 90's - remember, this was before the era of the X-Games, before events such as 'Slopestyle' and 'Big Air' made backflips a compulsory part of the layman's run down a slope. What I hoped hadn't changed since that time was Chamonix. I was still hoping for a smallish village style resort at the base of some of the highest mountains in Europe, cobblestone streets, quaint French bistros, beautiful scenery and apres ski life (well, considering it was only early Autumn, just bar life). What i found, thankfully, was all of that.

...What we had to get through however was a 9 or 10 hour drive from San Sebastian to Chamonix. Why? I still don't know, I didn't make the rules for this trip but apparently that's what we had to do. I still can't figure out why the hell we needed to do so much driving, we weren't on a deadline.

We all endured the 9hr ride, for whose benefit I'm not sure. What I do remember however is that the scenery was impressive. Beautiful, imposing, almost regal style mountains overlooking the beautiful village/town of Chamonix. Absolutely picturesque and undoubtedly a stunning place to be once the Winter season was in full swing. You could just imagine how picture perfect this place would be at that time of year. I remember years ago there was a period of about a month when I'd put some serious planning together to make it here for a couple of weeks of snowboarding. Like a few of my trips over the last few years, sometimes life just intervenes and morphs your thoughts and desires into something else entirely. Never the less, here I was. In Chamonix after a wait of some 20 years. So to that I say, 'Alexa, play The Rain King by the Counting Crows'.

On the road - France

Yup - that reads 7.5hrs to go!  Somewhere in France

Chamonix - Mt Blanc - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonox - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - Aiguille du Midi - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Montpellier (FRANCE) - Blink and you'll miss it

Montpellier (France)

02 SEP 2015

Don't let the title fool you, I have nothing against Montpellier, actually, I was more than disappointed that we only spent an evening there, it looked to be an incredibly beautiful city. One of those towns that seemed to have everything on my list 'intriguing, fascinating and enjoyable'. As you already know however, this trip was not one of 'those trips'. I had no real control over duration, where we were going or what we were doing. I was on 'the clock' of someone else, whose mission I didn't understand...not for the life of me.

This day started in another country, far on the north eastern coast of Italy. Once again, we bounded out of Venice with rigour and purpose. Why? Who the hell knows why! All I know is that my cousin was aiming to get as far as he could in the amount of daylight that we had possible, and so we drove, Vicenza, Verona & Brescia, then the chaos of the traffic moving in and out of Milan. It was like nothing that I'd seen before. Three lanes of slow moving steel, plastic and rubber, columns of trucks that went for mile, after mile. The Northern part of Italy was just an endless procession of vehicles carrying cargo to and from destinations. Our only objective was to get around it somehow and head on our merry way.

It took a bit of time but somewhere around midday we hit Genoa and then set ourselves for a cruise down the Riviera. Great scenery (from the motorway), it looked as though there were plenty of places where you could put your feet up, enjoy an Aperol Spritz and watch the sun settle over the Mediterranean.

Italian Riviera

 Italian Riviera

Italian Riviera

Somewhere in the afternoon we dropped into Monaco, more so that I could just add another country onto my 'been-there' list. It was what you'd expect of Monaco, flush with money, flush with ritz and glamour. Not too hard to see it on the streets, more than just ostentatious, it was like different level wealth.

Still, 'nothing to see here', we had to move on of course, we had to get to ....'who knows where' by 'who knows what time' for 'who knows what reason', so back we were, bundled into the car and heading to our next destination, which we figured out as Montpellier.

We arrived there in later afternoon, with no accommodation booked. Something that didn't appear to be a problem to me but apparently became one. What I didn't know then but what I should have probably anticipated, is that my three other cohorts can turn on the hyper-anxiety and hyper-stress in an instant. Their penchant to become unnecessarily stressed regarding a mild situation, I know now is a common trait that all three feed off from one another. I didn't know that that, not at that time. So when we turned up looking for accommodation I though 'ok, perhaps 20 mins, perhaps 40 mins, perhaps an hour', we'll find a place. After our first few misses however the stress levels in the car went through the roof, why? Who the hell knows why! But it certainly wasn't needed. In any case, we did finally find a comfortable location close to the centre of the town, with some friendly fire taking place along the way. So for that night my aunt and cousin stayed in their rooms, both 'too tired' to do anything and my mum and I went for a walk to discover a little about Montpellier.

...And so I come back to the beginning. Montpellier looks like quite a beautiful town, as one commentator has put it, 'elegant, subversive and seductive', both a town of students and one infiltrated by IT specialists creating their own 'hub', its becoming interesting and complex in a fascinating way. Not that I knew any of this of course, all I could pick was the mix of old and new plus the smooth, lighter than air trams that would glide by with high frequency. To me it looked like a place where I could quite happily spend more than just a few hours but rather a few days. Not on this turn unfortunately. Never the less, its definitely on the list of places to revisit and hopefully that might be able to occur soon-ish.

Paris: Who the hell saw that coming?

The Who the hell saw that coming tour

18 September - 23 September 2014

The Eiffel tower as taken from the Palais de Chaillot

Wow, this trip was so far out of left field that when it came at me it hit me on the right side of my face. In my mind I had already pre-judged 2014 to have been an entirely ‘travel barren’ year, but as I also know in my heart of hearts, you can NEVER say NEVER. Circumstance can be odd and  sometimes can conspire for doom, and sometimes,  conspires for the force of BOOM! (yeah, I said that).

Hence, in the tradition of all my other kick-off write ups such as ‘Life in a year full of Saturdays’, ‘The wing and a prayer tour’, ‘Don’t call this a comeback’, ’43: The tour of awesome’ and ‘The two-timer tour’,  I bring you ‘Paris: Who hell saw that coming?’.

There are so many components to my Parisian jaunt, elements that conspired to fashion my express saunter through several glorious early Autumn days in city of lights, that had I have even attempted to have planned the eventual route that was taken, nothing would have manifested, nothing at all.

I think the best place to start is to provide a flavour of some of conversations that were held in the hallways of the Federal Court when questioned as to what I’d be doing with my entire four days of leave that I had requested. Most conversations were structured accordingly;

Random work colleague – ‘You’re taking a few days off H, are you up to anything?’
 

Me – ‘Yeah, I’m going away for a few days’

Random work colleague – ‘Oh nice, where are you going?’

Me – ‘Paris’

Random work colleague – (insert incredulous look) – ‘For how many days!?!’

Me – ‘I’ll be in Paris for the weekend mostly’

Random work colleague – (now looking at me like I’d been smoking too much tutti-frutti) – ‘Ummm – Why?’

Me – ‘I’m there to surprise my parents, oh, and I have a date lined up, a first date actually’

Random work colleague – ‘Can I get some of the stuff you’ve been smoking??’

The ‘who the hell saw that coming’ tour had so many iterations prior to where it settled that it easily could have been called ‘World Cup Rio’ or ‘Living la vida en Latin Europe’, but as the reality and demands of working for the Federal Court drew down on the mental time credits that I’d assigned myself in earlier months, it became all too obvious that the only travel I would be doing was via the 6:27am all stations ride from Seven Hills to Town Hall.

Let me commence however with an overview of what would be my greatest Criss Angel impersonation, aka - the Le Restaurant heist on Rue de Beaux Artes – Thursday, 18^th of September, 2014. As you know, the best laid plans of both mice and men quite often go astray, and so too, my plans for making it to the World Cup in Brazil and also a France/Spain tour sadly sank into the murk of the shallow marshes, induced by merciful euthanasia. The family resistance gene to ‘required work’ however is still carried by my parents and that resistance equated to both travel fortune and opportunism. Theirs now is a life of retired bliss created on the foundation of purchased time as credited from the Bank of Life. So, as unbelievably cool a son that I am, I hooked these old-timers up with a two month holiday and also threw in an all expenses, kick-arse four day excursion to one of the most loved destinations on the planet.  I give you these lines in order now to set the foundation as to what additionally was to play out in my mind after I created their itinerary.

 

In the early months of this year, sitting back one night  and contemplating my handy work at playing the role of ‘legendary family travel agent’, I had one of those lightning bolt thoughts where the alignment of stars brought on the phenomena  of  brilliant inspiration acquired through pangs of what I thought would inevitably be travel jealousy, that was  of course underpinned by the lead tenets of ‘crazy’ and ‘cool’.

Now ‘what if’, I thought, ‘what if whilst they were in Paris I flew in, all covert, cloak and dagger style, and met them at a five star Parisian restaurant that I had pre-booked for them? What if Henry…what if you managed to pull off that stunt without so much as a word to anyone?’, and thus the planning for who the hell saw that coming commenced in earnest.

Part two of this now breathtaking story has a lot to do with the entry details in  ‘Riga - Latvian night moves. And whilst I have made a promise not to discuss in public what should really be kept private, I will mention that the idea of a first date,  four years removed from a random, innocuous meeting in a Rigan bar, that had me wandering the streets of the Old Town like a hapless, ill-fated nomad , somehow germinated within the midst of these two sentences;

Ms Pop – ‘You know, if you could fly into Europe, anywhere, I would be able to meet you there’

Crazy man – ‘What about Paris on the 18^th of September, I’m there for the weekend’

Ms Pop  - No comments to be added, just refer to the line offered by Random work colleague as outlined earlier dialogue regarding the same escapade.

…And there it was, random events, bonding to form an epic atom of awesome. It was to be Paris like a Rockstar! It idea had now somehow been dreamt, all that was left was for the dream to be realised!!

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