France 2017

  We learned that rapeseed oil is Canola oil. There are fields full of these yellow flowers. More flowers than grapes in wine country.   We toured a WWI fort in Verdun. Drew is walking through the recreated trenches. It was so quiet there.  300 days, 300,000 men died. It was the furthest west the Germans made it into France.

Everything is closed on Monday in France but we did get to tour our house of Champagne where we are staying. We are sleeping on top of over 100,000 bottles in caves below us. The caves were hand dug at the beginning of the 1900s. Germans invaded the village and lived in the home during WWII. They drank the mediocre Champagne and the owner hid the good stuff behind a fake wall in the cellar. The cellar goes 25 km under ground. They have a unique way of aging the vintage Champagne. It is called "on point."       We visited Hautervilles for lunch. We found the local version of Cognac to bring home for Dad. We also got lentils and vinegar which are cery well known to the region. Tomorrow, we head for Strasbourg which is on the border of France and Germany.

We toured Moët and Chandon...home of Don Perginon.  Don Perignon is made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and is only made in Vintage years.  Moët is made traditionally with Chardonnay, Pinot Nour and Pinot Meniuer and Imperial is the champagne produced with the same taste and bouquet each year. To produce the Inperial, they made need as many as 800 wines to blend.  The caves were 28km in length.      

This morning we visited Marche Mouffetard (a local market). We bought frommage (cheese) and a baguette. We had oysters and wine. The macaroons were delicious.        

We got stuck in the immigration line for two hours but we met a nice couple from Salt Lake City which passed the time. Then, we navigated Paris using the French navigation system in the car. That was a real challenge as no one obeys traffic laws and the city is very large. We did pass Moulin Rouge.   After checking into the hotel, we had a great lunch at Le Petit Littre. We are couteaux (clams) and brought tartare.   We walked three miles to and from the Eiffel Tower sampling baguettes, wine and chocolate along the way.  

We had oysters at our favorite restaurant in Ontario before catching a flight from Toronto to Paris.