A sunny day in Reims

Day 8 – October 8 – Reims, Market, more research, exploring the town and enjoying the sun

Weather – Sunny, cool to warm 6-20c

After a great day of research yesterday, we woke up a bit later today. We had nothing planed anyway, so it was always going to a bit more relaxed. Given our struggles yesterday to find somewhere for breakfast I decided to cook. I’d picked up some eggs, and we had some leftover baguettes, some amazing butter (Beurre -which I just can’t seem to pronounce correctly), the 24month Comte and some of the strawberry and Yuzu jam Lucy and I bought from the condiments shop in Paris. Great start to the day with a solid breakfast and a bit of a sleep in. As it was Saturday, the Market just around the corner for us was open and the street was also closed off – with many little stalls and food vendors set up in the street. The hall was also jam packed and there were many people out and about. It also helped that it was a warm and sunny day the café’s and Bistrot’s were packed and there was a bit of a festive atmosphere. 

We wondered around the market, and I picked up some produce for dinner. Lucy hand another Croissant and some sort of apple pastry, I think she’s averaging at least 2 Croissants per day on this trip… After the market trip, we dropped off the produce and headed off into the main area of town for Lunch. There was a restaurant I wanted to try just off the Place de Forum - as we had only eaten in various Brasserie’s, Bistort’s and café’s  - and I wanted to try something a little more fancy. Now that’s not to say the food hasn’t been good – it’s been lovely for the most part – however when you are only eating in the what would be the equivalent of a pub or café in Melbourne, then you don’t get the full range – and the options are pretty much the same – a bit like Melbourne, only instead of a Parma or steak, you get boeuf tartare and onion soup. I just wanted to get a different experience; however, it turns out that you need to book – bummer – so we went to the Bistrot next door – Edgar Bistort – and I kinda wish we hadn’t… 

This was the first bad food experience that we’ve had. The waitress didn’t seem all there – very friendly, but a bit all over the shop. We started with champagne du moment – so basically whatever they have open – these were great, no idea what they were though. I ordered the entrecote, I had scanned the menu via the phone app – so it had a photo, the name in English and I could point to it and say it. I ordered it medium (Moyenne) and Katie got the surf and turf pasta. I ended up getting the porterhouse – a completely different steak (Although she charged me for the more expensive steak.. whatever - it was only a couple of Euro and I can’t explain this issue in French, so I’ll take that). The steak I got however, was tough and grisly, at least it was medium rare by my standards (Again, thanks for the heads up Taz). The pepper sauce was nice, and at least it did a decent job of masking the taste of the steak. Katie didn’t seem to mind her pasta, however Lucy didn’t like her chicken tenders – they seemed like the frozen type. On the plus side , the waitress brought out the wrong dessert for Lucy and then brought out the correct one – as I said – all over the place. So, there you go – you can get bad food in France.

The day was another picture perfect day, and since Katie hadn’t been to the cathedral, we decided to walk over there and try to do the tour – unfortunately the tour office was closed until 2pm and we were planning on doing a tasting at Veuve so we decided to for the “self-guided” tour. It’s an amazing place visually and this time we spent a bit more time reading the signs and appreciating the beauty of the cathedral. Apparently, there’s a famous artist that Katie loves who did some of the stained glass windows - Marc Chagall? Never heard of him… apparently had does amazing blues? Looked pretty cool with the sun streaming through the window though, and I could appreciate it, although not as much as Katie. 

Katie and Lucy brought a snow globe and a pen at the gift shop, which I initially felt was a little sacrilegious until I remembered that the catholic church has been selling junk to pilgrims for the last 1500 years or so. I should have looked to see if they had saint’s big toe nail of something…

Next stop for the day was the Veuve Clicot visitor centre – on nice days, we were told, they allow you to purchase drinks and sit outside in the garden, even if you haven’t booked a tour – which we hadn’t as they had all sold out. You can’t just walk up to the champagne houses and go for a tasting – something to do with licencing laws I guess. We took an uber from the city centre and it was a lovely drive the edge of town. Veuve have it all over Mumm in terms of set up – they look to be more oriented to the tourist market and had a drinks truck (old school caravan), seats and umbrellas, setup outside in the garden. 

You could order from 5 options at the front office and then head outside to collect your drinks and sit in the sun. We decided we would try them all (Shared), for the shake of research. We had a lovely time chatting to the lady at the bar and enjoying the different wines. They had two roses – NV and vintage, they had the standard yellow label and a yellow label that had been aged on lees for 5years instead of the just under 3, and finally a Demi-sec. I’d had a few of these before, however, something about sitting out in the French sun, enjoying them onsite, just seemed to give them a little something extra. Lucy had a juice tasing, which she enjoyed and spent most of the afternoon drawing mazes on her drawing tablet and then challenging us to beat them.

Apple or orange juice? 

We had been told that Tattinger around the corner also offered a tasting so we went for a short walk, however our information was incorrect and we decided to make our back to the apartment and call it a day.

Katie had wanted to go out for dinner, however I had quite a haul of produce from the market and I had a bit of a plan for dinner – I had also accidently spent €19 on a punnet of shelled peas that Lucy had wanted so I really didn’t want to waste those – I thought it was €19 per Kg… oh well. I whipped up pork chops, in a pan sauce of shallots, garlic, mustard, crème fraiche and Normandy organic apple cider – had to use up some of the butter as well – so that helped to thicken the sauce. Served with small roasted chat potatoes, and a salad with some fresh endive, the peas, croutons from left over baguettes, fresh cucumber, shallots (Because they come in bags – I couldn’t figure out how to buy just one…), amazing farm fresh cherry tomatoes, and mixed salad leaves with a vinaigrette I had purchased. I thought it was a pretty successful meal, and we washed that down with a bottle of Mumm when had picked up on the tour. We ate outside on our little patio and enjoyed our last night in France. 

It’s been an amazing week – and we will certainly be back – next time for longer and better prepared! Next stop - Amsterdam.