Day 1
The two and a half hour journey to Reims flew by punctuated by another coffee stop. We were all starting to hallucinate about that first glass of champagne. I nearly killed the girls trying to get into the car park but in my defence it really should not have been a two way street and we were distracted by the site of our Hotel de la Paix - a lovely Best Western Hotel -perfectly situated in the centre of Reims and the amazing monument on the corner of the Rue Buirette.

Picture of monument

Having survived the journey and car parked safely for the next few days we hit Reims. Bottle one - upgrade from the 30 Euro advertised on the menu to a Castellane -selling at 40Euros. Beautifully presented I had to taste the first drop. Yes, that would be acceptable and then "le pouce dans le cul de la bouteille" the champagne was poured, not into flutes, but beautiful little glasses which keep the bubbles in but allow you to smell the aromas. (Only Moet et Chandon had the traditional flutes but more about that later.)

The Castellane lasted 20 minutes if that. I felt it was a depressive champagne as we all became a bit melancholy after this one after the initial euphoria of the first taste. We moved on to the appropriately named Cafe de Reims where Anna succeeded in insulting the waiter by asking him to make sure that the champagne was served cold. This was a Vranken champagne from the Demoiselle house -40 Euros so heading up market. Again the same glasses and once we started chatting up the waiter he mellowed and brought us some Biscuits Roses, a speciality of Reims, to have with our champagne. We had intended to eat something at this point but decided to move on.

Bottle three - Taittinger. This hit the spot. We found a delightful restaurant on the main drag. The staff found it hilarious our attempts to pronounce Taittinger properly. We had "amuse-bouches" and Moules and Tartiflette, all of which are perfectly accompanied by Taittinger. We were now back on the giggling champagne and entertaining the multi national clientele in the restaurant.
Time for a digestif in the Latino Bar -Calvados and Cognac and a merengue, the dance not the dessert! Well it is a multi national city!