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Colleen & Tom's Explorations
Up early this morning, brekky in our room (thanks to finding that supermarket yesterday) before heading off bright and early to Gare de Lyon to get the Metro to the tour company's offices at the Louvre. But no, buses were replacing trains on our line this morning - a common Sunday thing apparently. We ventured out to where the buses should be but found nothing, no-one and no signs of any sort. So we caught a taxi, which was uneventful until the driver dropped his mobile on the floor where he couldn't see it and it kept going off. Nevertheless, we did arrive safely at the tour operators, and in plenty of time to do the 10 minute walk to the coach in the bowels of the earth under the Louvre. This part of our trip was planned over 2 years ago, and it was not going to be thwarted by transport trifles.
Our tour has 2 guides - one for the Japanese tourists and one that speaks English and Portuguese (for the Brazilians). One of them was telling us that the gypsies usually target Japanese first (then Chinese, then Australians), because they have a low crime rate at home and are unaccustomed to protecting themselves and their belongings.
Just under 2 hours later we were at the Mumm champagne house in Reims. After a short video presentation we were taken 14 metres below the earth and shown through part of their 25kms of tunnels. Mumm champagne is made using any combination of three grape varieties: c******nay, pinot noir and pinot meunière. Oak casks were used for the first fermentation process until 1955, when they started to use concrete vats because they didn't like the way the oak was colouring the wine and effecting its taste and style. They stopped using concrete vats in 1991 because they couldn't control the rising temperature during fermentation. With the new stainless steel vats they have tubes travelling around the outside that can carry iced water to cool the wine down.
They also showed us their vintage library where they keep a reserve of vintages from past years so that the current winemaker can taste their house style and remain true to it with his current wines. Tom asked how come the bottles remained safe through WW2 and our Mumm guide said their were two reasons - 1. Because there were a lot of tunnels and she was sure they could hide it, but also 2. The Mumm family were still Germans.
The wine tasting was generous and the wine tasted familiar - probably the C******nay and Pinot noir.
This was followed by a visit to the Reims Cathedral with its double flying buttresses. There is a stunning blue stained glass window by Marc Chagall. The bishop's palace next door was beautiful too.
We then had vegetable quiches for lunch at a little cafe on the Main Street of Reims.
Back into the coach sometime later and we continued on to Epernay, passing Veuve Cliquot on the way, and many other champagne houses we've never heard of. This time we entered the grand establishments of Moët and Chandon. The story here about the champagne was much the same, but they never used the concrete vats, and they started using the stainless steel back in the 1960s. But the family background was different. It was started by Moët (pronounced Mo-et - yes, surprised me too!), passed down to his son, who also became the mayor of Epernay. He had a son and a daughter - the daughter married Chandon, so when it was passed down to the two children, the name was changed. When the Mayor Moët died, he left his home to the town, and is now their town hall (hotel de ville). Chandon was the instigator in purchasing the abbey and the vines/winery where Dom Perignon originally discovered and made champagne. He originated storing it in bottles with cork stoppers. So now Moët continue on the grand tradition of Dom Perignon - the best of the best.
While were on this part of the tour the other two Aussies started talking to us - they both work for the Department of Housing (housoes) in Mt Druitt and live in South Katoomba!! Gosh it's a small world!
At the end of the tour we were able to catch the metro back to Gare de Lyon (yes, they were working again). We bought some takeaway Chinese for dinner and retired to our room quite exhausted.
Another surprise in the pronunciation department - I always thought that Hermes was pronounced hair-may. But no, here in Paris it's Hair-mez???
Our tour has 2 guides - one for the Japanese tourists and one that speaks English and Portuguese (for the Brazilians). One of them was telling us that the gypsies usually target Japanese first (then Chinese, then Australians), because they have a low crime rate at home and are unaccustomed to protecting themselves and their belongings.
Just under 2 hours later we were at the Mumm champagne house in Reims. After a short video presentation we were taken 14 metres below the earth and shown through part of their 25kms of tunnels. Mumm champagne is made using any combination of three grape varieties: c******nay, pinot noir and pinot meunière. Oak casks were used for the first fermentation process until 1955, when they started to use concrete vats because they didn't like the way the oak was colouring the wine and effecting its taste and style. They stopped using concrete vats in 1991 because they couldn't control the rising temperature during fermentation. With the new stainless steel vats they have tubes travelling around the outside that can carry iced water to cool the wine down.
They also showed us their vintage library where they keep a reserve of vintages from past years so that the current winemaker can taste their house style and remain true to it with his current wines. Tom asked how come the bottles remained safe through WW2 and our Mumm guide said their were two reasons - 1. Because there were a lot of tunnels and she was sure they could hide it, but also 2. The Mumm family were still Germans.
The wine tasting was generous and the wine tasted familiar - probably the C******nay and Pinot noir.
This was followed by a visit to the Reims Cathedral with its double flying buttresses. There is a stunning blue stained glass window by Marc Chagall. The bishop's palace next door was beautiful too.
We then had vegetable quiches for lunch at a little cafe on the Main Street of Reims.
Back into the coach sometime later and we continued on to Epernay, passing Veuve Cliquot on the way, and many other champagne houses we've never heard of. This time we entered the grand establishments of Moët and Chandon. The story here about the champagne was much the same, but they never used the concrete vats, and they started using the stainless steel back in the 1960s. But the family background was different. It was started by Moët (pronounced Mo-et - yes, surprised me too!), passed down to his son, who also became the mayor of Epernay. He had a son and a daughter - the daughter married Chandon, so when it was passed down to the two children, the name was changed. When the Mayor Moët died, he left his home to the town, and is now their town hall (hotel de ville). Chandon was the instigator in purchasing the abbey and the vines/winery where Dom Perignon originally discovered and made champagne. He originated storing it in bottles with cork stoppers. So now Moët continue on the grand tradition of Dom Perignon - the best of the best.
While were on this part of the tour the other two Aussies started talking to us - they both work for the Department of Housing (housoes) in Mt Druitt and live in South Katoomba!! Gosh it's a small world!
At the end of the tour we were able to catch the metro back to Gare de Lyon (yes, they were working again). We bought some takeaway Chinese for dinner and retired to our room quite exhausted.
Another surprise in the pronunciation department - I always thought that Hermes was pronounced hair-may. But no, here in Paris it's Hair-mez???
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