Rudders at Home

No, Alka-Seltzer is plop plop, fizz fizz. I’m talking pop, as in, yep, you guessed it – Champagne!

As you probably know, Paul and I went to France a couple weeks ago. While we enjoyed the great outdoors that was on offer, we also enjoyed a bit of the fizzy stuff the region produces as well.

We visited the Champagne house of Moet & Chandon, in Epernay. The tour took us down below the building, to have a look at their cellars, and they explained the process it all went through. It was quite good. At the end of the tour they do a bit of a tasting. Well, actually, depending on the tour you choose, you get a glass or two of champagne. We decided to do the Grand Vintage tour, which meant we each got two glasses of Grand Vintage Moet at the end. Fabulous. Who could ask for anything better?

Oh, just one thing could be better. As Paul was driving, I actually got to drink nearly four glasses of the stuff! How decadent!

The grounds at Moet & Chandon were extremely pretty. The house in the picture here was across from the main entrance gates above. The day was so beautiful and warm, with an amazing blue sky. It was probably the hottest day we’ve experienced all summer, and we got to enjoy it in France, wandering down the Avenue de Champagne.

Once we had our tour and left Epernay, we took a drive through the vineyards. We saw the Moet & Chandon vineyards, as well as tons and tons of others. I’ve never seen so many grapes! Lines and lines of vines.

The day was pretty good. Wonderful scenery and a lovely drive through the country. Paul had bought new maps for his GPS, so we were able to take a proper meandering drive without having to get too worried about getting lost.

I absolutely loved this region of France. Plenty of things to see and do. Nice, French towns with interesting and lovely people. Outdoorsy stuff and gorgeous weather. I can’t wait to go back.

Just a few more pictures before I say au revoir! The first pictures grapes from the vineyards, obviously. The second is the lovely little hotel we stayed in. We had a really good reception there. And the final picture is just an idyllic farmland shot. French cows!!

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I’d have baked a cake. But instead I baked shortbread, caramel shortbread, and some cookies called sponge drops. All new recipes, but the sponge drops are especially a new one for me. Sandwich cookies, filled with whipped cream, raspberries and jam. New recipe for the shortbread as well, which turned out ok. It’s amazing how many different options there are for what essentially is butter, sugar, and flour. My shortbread never turns out quite right, although that doesn’t keep Paul from swiftly eating it all.

…maybe I just need more practice.

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Paul and I went away for the Bank Holiday at the end of August. Took a trip to France, so we did, to the Champagne Ardennes region. So gorgeous and lovely. Such a nice little break.

Here’s a little pic to tide you over. Such a beautiful green area, with lots of things to do outside – camping, walking, canoeing, etc. I think we’ll end up back there at some time. It was so different from what we’re used to – all that green and fresh air certainly wipes the city out of you quickly. The thing that struck me, and it’s something that has occurred to me on past trips to other places, is how much the area reminded me of home.

I find it strange sometimes how such places in the world can just strike a chord and remind me so much of home and areas that I grew up. This region of France really reminded me of Cook Forest, especially with the river and all the green areas. The drive to our hotel was “just like” the drive by the river there in Cook Forest. Of course it was different, I mean, it was France, for crying out loud, and there’s no way that it can be the same. However, it did have a similar feeling in places, and for what it’s worth, it was really very comforting and familiar, and made the trip that much more enjoyable.

It’s so pleasant and refreshing to get a reminder of home where it’s least expected.

I’ll write a bit more about our trip later, with pictures – I promise!

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…on a jet plane…

Nope, not us this time! It’s my friend Kevin. He’s headed back to the states imminently, and last night was another (!!) of his leaving dos. It was a nice night out in Paddington, and we were able to buy Kevin one final pint. He’s not leaving us quite yet.

Currently he’s traveling around Europe, having one last fling with the continent before moving back to the good old USA. We get to see him one more time before he’s off for good. Hopefully we can give him one last hurrah worth remembering.

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Check out this pelican. This is another photo from mom and dad’s trip over – just another of the small wonders they saw while we took them around London.

We saw this particular pelican during our stroll through St. James’ Park. This was on the last day we spent touring London. We had done the open top bus tour, getting off at Buckingham Palace to have a gander. After getting our fill of seeing where the Queen spends some of her time, we headed through the park down to the Horse Guards Parade and Whitehall. This is where dad got some really cool pictures of the horse guards, but we’ll save those for another day.

St. James’ Park has a pond/lake in the center of it, which has a large number of waterfowl. While we walked through, we were able to see quite a few birds, especially as the weather was fairly nice – one of our nicest days in the city!! This pelican stood out simply because it was so much larger than the rest, but also because there are signs around saying Please don’t feed the pelicans, or something that effect. I don’t think either mom or dad believed that there would be pelicans in the park until we turned the corner and here this fellow was!

We were all pretty impressed!

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