Meeting My Love in the City of Love and Lights for Wine, Champagne, and Food

David’s Last RTW Visit

Paris is an appropriate place for me to meet David for his last visit to me on my RTW trip. But we immediately go to rent a car to get out of the city and head to the countryside to enjoy the spoils of the soil. Wine and Champagne!

Epernay

There is nothing like driving through a region to get a feel for what the environment is like. Learning the rules of the road, watching life passing in the background, and eying the motorized vehicles on the road. With the French vineyards as our backdrop, we had a great time just soaking up the environment.

Forgetting that champagne is not our favorite celebratory drink, we go to taste and see what the culture of champagne is like anyways. Unfortunately, we discover that Sundays and Mondays are really dead in town and at the wineries. So we spent one of the days hiking and picking wild blackberries the region. But besides that… those few days allowed us to appreciate the fabulous baked goods that France has to offer! When places opened up and we had a chance to taste, we found champagne not to be so bad to drink and understand the history and appreciated the drink. Moet is a popular place to visit and has a well organized tour!

Dijon

Mustard. Isn’t that what you think about? How about Burgundy wine? Some of the finest red wine, Pinot grape variety, produced in France! Now, for you wine newbies… Wines in France are labeled by the region it is produced and harvested from. Whereas, in The States and many other countries, name is based on the grape utilized by the producer. I have to say that I am not a big Pinot Noir fan, but the wines produced in France seem to be more palatable to me. An interesting article about the site’s opinion of the differences between Pinot Noir Wine in France and the USA can be found on Pinot Now. Also, and informative video of various varieties of Pinot Noir at eHow.com. The great thing about visiting the Dijon/Burgundy region, is the world of food and drink in France as it is popular for! Dijon is also famous for escargots(b/c of the vineyards they live in). Which, I found good to eat! Oh, yes, an the Mustard! Yes! Good mustard, and mustard of all sorts! Maille is the famous shop that is now owned by Unilever. Dijon was such a friendly place that I visited again before I left Europe! It is a wonderful place that you cannot get sick of visiting.