We said our early morning goodbyes to our host Anthony (who, upon hearing our itinerary, said we wanted to come with us), packed Colin, and went in search of breakfast and picnic supplies. A thorough and time consuming investigation of the town confirmed that only one boulangerie is open in Amboise on Mondays. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that its selection was well-picked over by 10am, and we were limited to only the most decadent pastries. We cleared out the remaining stock of ‘religeuse.’ Such are our delicious difficulties.

Our chosen route to Burgundy was mostly along the big, fast A routes. The first 50 km stretch on the A10, though, was nerve-wracking: tons of huge semi-trucks erratically switching lanes with tons of tiny Renaults, all going 140. Thankfully, traffic calmed down once we turned east, and we were better able to appreciate the soft rolling hills of yellow and green agricultural land. We considered stopping in Auxerre for our picnic, but a quick loop of the town changed our mind. It didn’t have a very nice feel to it; it all seemed dusty and the people looked sad. Instead, we continued on to our destination, stopping only briefly to secure a bag of roadside cherries. The village just before our turn off is one of those cute ones that is over in less than a kilometre; we noted where the supermarket was as we drove on to find our next home.

Abbaye de Reigny

Suddenly, we felt like we’ve inherited our own hunting chateau, complete with huge iron gates and a long, treed promenade to a collection of stone buildings some dating as far back as the 14th century. The site is a 900 year old abbey, this property is a designated national monument, and has been a sacred space since the 1100s. It is still an idyllic retreat into nature. In fact, it is so magical here that we soon decided we would not be leaving for anything other than grocery runs into Vermenton. And why would we? We are surrounded by huge fields on one side and a small river and forest on the other. We have a modern outdoor pool and an ancient foozeball table, both with a view of the beautiful windows of the old monks’ rectory.

Our adorable stone apartment – once a monks’ chicken hutch – has vaulted ceilings, huge doors, antique furniture, and a lovely patio. And we are pretty sure we are the only guests here at the moment.

But the other great delight is the wildlife, both big and small. A diverse flock of chickens were they first to welcome us; they seem to have free run of the place, and were very interested in our lunch. We picked names for them: Heneritta the Bold and her small sidekick, Lucy, made initial contact on our patio, followed by Karen, the pretty one; Leroy, the young cock, and the pathetic, plucked-looking, standoffish one we call The Hot Mess. The grand and showy rooster (whom we originally named Theodore but was renamed Louis the Umpteenth) was the last to make his grand, strutting entrance. We didn’t name the four French Geese, their one Canadian counterpart (clearly a tourist), or the multiple ducks. Swallows & pigeons complete the outdoor aviary. In the field are six snooty horses and one lazy cat. We didn’t name any of the river otters, salamanders, dragonflies, centipedes, or butterflies, but the tiny frogs became Francois I & II. David found the latter in one of our doorless showers in one of our doorless bathrooms. The huge spider in the sink also remained nameless upon release back into the wild.

After our long lovely patio lunch and lounge (punctuated, oddly, by the occasional dramatic low flyby of hyper-modern, pure black, jet fighters), David and Athena went into Vermenton for more groceries, and Triumph and Kristine walked around the extensive grounds, peeking in old buildings and revelling in awe at the scope and beauty of this place. They also found, at the end of the property, a pregnant, carrot-loving donkey whom they named Louise.

Athena cooked us a lovely zucchini risotto, and we had a couple bottles of fantastic burgundy bought at the local supermarket for an astonishingly low price. After the sun went down, we watched Marie Antoinette on Athena’s laptop, spent some time looking at the stars, and snuggled into our comfy beds with no alarm clocks set. Bucolic bliss!

We began our morning with some gorgeous new pastries at our kitchen table. We also sampled the host’s homegrown, homemade raspberry jam! We would have preferred to “take breakfast” as our host suggested, in his cute garden, but we saw the first light sprinkles of rain of our trip.

We then took a lovely 25 minute drive through the woods to Chateau Chenonceau, quite possibly one of the most quintessential and photogenic chateau in the Loire … which explains the crowds.

Built entirely over the water, and housed by a long series of strong women, weak kings, and cunning mistresses, this fairytale castle has been beautifully restored. My personally favourite sections were the long, bright gallery and the elaborate, intriguing kitchens.

The sun came out while we were in the chateau, so we took a brief walk around the wife’s garden, stopped for a drink of the chateau’s wine at the cafe, took a brief walk around the (much bigger) mistress’s garden, skipped the enormous garden, and headed back to ‘Colin’ where we’d packed some food to eat on the road.

We headed across the Loire and took a beautiful long drive along the river, which is spotted with villages, relatively modest chateaus, and the occasional flock of swans. We also took a couple odd detours courtesy of Colin. (We have learned he is a bit of an athletic stereotype: he is big and strong, but really dumb; his navigation repeatedly wanted us to go in the opposite direction than the road signs and our instinct indicated.)

We did mange to find our way to our destination: Chateau Chambord.

What the first house has in charm, this one has in grandeur. 440 rooms on four floors full of turrets and twists, ramparts, hidden rooms, and outdoor passageways.

The rooms are bigger, the ceilings are higher, and the winding stairwells are magnificent. Triumph would look out the high windows and imagine Gatsby-esque parties on the enormous symmetrical lawns with its elaborate designs.

But even Gatsby could never afford anything this overwhelming and magnificent. Where did all the money come from? These were just the hunting retreats! And we only saw two of the many, many, many chateaus in this area. No wonder the regular French folk revolted!

We stopped for snack on the grounds before leaving, then, ignoring Colin, we found our own way back to Amboise. Sunday + 9 pm + small town + vegetarians = tricky finding a place to eat, but we managed: galette aux legumes for all. And once again in earshot of the accordion player.

We had another beautiful river walk before we went home to pack. Au revoir Loire; you are beautiful. I totally understand why DaVinci agreed to spend his last years here (even if we neglected to visit either his home or his bones, the latter of which are in the … you guessed it … the chateau Amboise).

Leaving Reims was a complicated affair. Besides packing 2 years of belongings, Kristine and Athena had to clean the empty apartment and coordinate with the landlord, Mr. Lombard. We were able to pull away from apartment around 12:30 and were on the road south to Epernay. Between Reims and Epernay there is a “mountain.” And it was quite wooded and wild. But the landscape is dominated by champagne fields and cute little villages.

We continued south and west on “D” and “N” roads which are not the toll freeways. They are slower but way more scenic. If we just took the “A” road we wouldn’t have seen that today’s modern French farmer is powering his barns either wind or with nuclear power.

We didn’t take to many shots while on the road because we were focused on driving and navigating. Taking the byways requires you to do your own navigation, the onboard nav system was only interested in sending us on the major roads.

Our mid-trip stop was Fontainebleau. Not knowing better, We arrived by the back gate, which I expect was where the nobility would exit the grounds to go hunting in the woods beyond. The fact that the stables were at the gate supports my theory.

Access to the grounds is free but access to the building costs. We paid the fee and went on a quick self guided tour through Napoleon’s state rooms and Marie Antionette’s boudoir (among many other rooms labeled with the names of kings and popes who spent time “roughing it” here in the country. We bought crepes from a small booth in the courtyard and loaded back up I to our van (which we have inexplicably named Colin).

After Fontainebleau, we decided to take the “A” toll freeways to Amboise since the day was wearing on. We must have paid 5 times, and not small amounts (4-12 euro a piece). We arrived in this charming town and drove Colin (he is a BIG boy) down the increasingly narrow roads to our new apartment. We were met by Anthony, a young stone worker and avid gardener) gave us a tour of the house he has refurbished in adorable fashion. The house is by a little canal and surrounded by trees. The house cat has charmed Athena.

We rested and readied for dinner. We wondered the streets and squares of town till we found a restaurant. The town is delightful.

After dinner, we walked some more, by the Loire and past the local Chateau, then home for the night.

On our one full day in Reims we started by not starting too early. It is important to get your rest even while on holidays. In fact that is the point of holidays.

When Triumph and Athena arrived at our apartment the destination for breakfast was a favourite creperie in the pedestrian shopping area. We got there after 10:30 but it did not open till noon so we went to a boulangerie nearby. They had some neat treats in the window. We had some interesting bready things and coffee.

After breakfast we headed to Notre Dame. Along the way we saw horses and dogs.

At Notre Dame we were greeted by Joan of Arc.

Thus far we have seen lots of the outside of Notre Dame but none of the inside. So in we went. It is massive and impressive.

We were treated to an impromptu choral performance by some girls in pink hoodies. Choral gangsters!

Many of the original stained glass windows were destroy by war and were subsequently replaced. This one is by Marc Chagall.

Our next big attraction for the day was a tour of Sciences Po. This has been Athena’s school for the last two years and today will be the last time she darkens the door. It is a lovely campus, far nicer than the one in Paris.

Afterwards, we went back to Athena’s apartment for a short rest and then to have picnic on the grounds of the basilica.

The Reims basilica is older than the cathedral by some 500 years and has interesting history. Kristine says she prefers the basilica to the cathedral as it has a more peaceful feeling. It certainly in not as popular as the cathedral, we nearly had it to ourselves. Triumph had to wait outside since he was too tall to get in the door.

On the way back to Athena’s apartment we stopped at a champagne house just around the corner from her door. We tried their basic champagnes and did not like them nearly as much as the 14 euro bottle we had at the picnic. (On sale at the grocery store, regularly 30 euro.)

We had a late dinner in the square in front of the cathedral because on weekends there is a terrific light put on at 11PM. It was a wonderful combination of building, light and music.

The kids came back to our apartment after the light show and then we said our goodbyes and stuffed them into the ridiculously small elevator.

One last look at the cathedral by night and to sleep.

We managed to get up an hour earlier than usual knowing that we had to pack and clear out of the big city.

Athena and I went to pick up our rental vehicle and returned to load our luggage and bodies into the van. It became apparent that we have a much larger vehicle than we need for the trip but we have lots of room for the 2 years of belongings Athena has accumulated in Reims.

We followed the north bank of the Seine east out of the city. Traffic eased up considerably outside of the downtown core. We stopped at a toll gate for a late roadside breakfast of pastries, baguette, and water. (Triumph went out alone and used his French to buy food!) I still can’t believe that I did not have even one cup of coffee today! The countryside between Paris and Reims is lovely and reminded me of Alberta in a way. However, the fields rolled more and there were these little French Villages, here and there, which made it look nothing like Alberta. It seemed also that their grain crops (future baguettes?) were well along, they were more golden than I was expecting for mid-June. The road was in great shape and the trip was fast.

We got to Reims and stopped at Athena’s apartment for a rest but not a long one because we had a 2PM tour of Maison Ruinart. We walked to the champagne house as it was only 15 minutes away. However, it was 35C outside and that made the trip seem longer. We past Pommery and Tattinger and a handful of other, lesser known houses on the way. We arrived at the gate of the compound and were greeted by the security guard who is the first actually fat French person I have seen on the trip thus far.

Inside, we met Francoise, our tour guide for the day. We were led through an anteroom with commissioned art works. We were told that champagne was historically only sold to royalty and the nobility and that Ruinart was the first maison (not monk) to make it and later the first to advertise its champagne to the masses. This is the first commissioned art work which was used to advertise on billboards and magazines in Paris.

We sat for a few minutes in the tasting room and drank some sparkling water and tried to cool down. The tasting room was an elegant, large room with three floor to ceiling French doors opening onto the square. The wind was starting to pick up during the afternoon and it moved the floor to ceiling curtains in a lazy, charming way.

But we were not tasting the champagne yet! First we descended into the caves. We went down two flights of stairs to get to the initial level.

At this level there were long dark corridors with, you guessed it, lots of wine bottles.

At the end of one long corridor (we were told there are 8 km of them), we ventured into the original chalk mines. These mines had been in use, off an on since Roman times, and are up to 40m deep. The mine was not in use when the original Ruinart family bought the mine with the express intent of using them for cellars for their new business in the fashionable champagne drinking trend catching hold with France’s nobility in the early seventeen hundreds. The pickaxe markings impressed me, all of the labourers through all of the centuries…

It was damp and cool in the caves (10c), perfect for storing wine and growing mushrooms.

There were SO many bottles, some recesses had more than 30000 bottles, all stacked by hand using bits of wood, cord and cork. Literal walls of champagne!

Finally, we all squeezed into a little elevator and returned to the surface. We made our way back to the tasting room for a sample of the house wine. We had a choice of white or rose. We tasted a white non-vintage wine, aged 3 years, and then the fancy vintage, aged 9 years. Both were lovely, but it is probably not a surprise which was the favourite.

After a stop at the Ruinart boutique, we went out into the heat of the day and slogged back to Athena’s apartment. We left the kids there and drove to our own apartment. Athena’s student apartment is too small for all four of us, so Kristine and I took an apartment close to the cathedral. Really close!

After we settled in and had a rest, Athena and Triumph came to our apartment and we set off for a short tour of the town centre and to have dinner. Happily, the wind had picked up in the afternoon and brought with it much cooler air. The temperature dropped from 35c mid afternoon to 22c by 9PM. Athena took us to her favourite fancy burger place, and we walked down the Place D’Erlon, the main pedestrian shopping and dining area. We then sat in front of the cathedral and planned our next day’s adventures, parted company with a kiss, and went back to our respective apartments for sleep.

Another great day in France! Yes!