31 August 2010

Francais!

In March I turned 21. In April, my best friend Oakley also turned 21. At the time we were both too poor to buy gifts so instead we decided to save our pennies and take a road trip to France to tour some vineyards and drinks lots of wine and Champagne. Our first stop was Chablis, the home of our most favourite white wine. Our second stop was Epernay in Champagne, you can all guess what that was home to. These were 6 of the best days of my summer.

All packed and raring to go!

Chablis
We stayed in the most beautiful (and only) campsite in Chablis, there was a stream running through it which led into the town centre. The town/village is very small and quaint and full of wine cellars and a few bars. Amazing.

As this trip was a celebration of our 21st birthdays, we though it apt to buy a bottle of 1989 Chablis (Our birth year) This wine was an awful lot more expensive than the rest of our purchases but nevertheless, a brilliant way to congratulate each other.

Sharing the 1989 Chablis towards the end of our first and last day in the town.

Some sweetcorn (Maize if you want to be pedantic)

Epernay, Champagne!
Champagne was everything we could have hoped for and more. The first day we arrived we had no time to go wine touring, so instead we bought some food, ate, drank some Chablis and then played with lights and long exposure.

The Champagne Vineyards! (From the car window)
Again we managed to secure ourselves a lovely campsite, this one was a lot bigger and not our only choice, it did however, have a river running through it which was lovely, and had pedalos and small boats for hire, unfortunately, we spent all our money on wine, Champagne and cheese and could not afford to hire one.
Moet et Chandon! The house of everyones favourite, Moet Champagne. We went for a tour in the champagne house of Moet & Chandon which was fantastic and included a glass of Moet at the end.
At the end of Avenue de Champagne there was a roundabout with this amazing sculpture on. On the otherside, there was a sculpture of the metal cap from a bottle of Champagne too.
We also toured the Mercier Champagne house and afterwards were able to sneak into one of their vineyards. It was what we'd wanted to do all holiday, actually be in and running around a real working vineyard. It was exactly how I'd imagined it, so vast yet so orderly.
Definitely going to have another wine touring holiday. Next stop, Italy.

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