The sun has finally come out in Paris! Our first two days were overcast with frequent light showers but this morning, as I look over the city from our small balcony, the weather is perfect: sunny and blue skies with the occasional white clouds.

Travel at such an exhausting pace, really non-stop, is bound to catch up with you sooner or later and we're starting to feel it now. Though, we're both amazed at just how quickly we adjusted to the time change with zero jet lag! Perhaps our excitement overcame any change in time.

We're off to the Louvre and the Eiffle Tower this morning. Need to check out but thankfully the hotel has a luggage room and they'll gladly keep the bags until later this evening.

Here's a few more pictures from yesterday. (Click to enlarge.)

The sign outside Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.


I just couldn't wait for the tasting any longer and had to help myself.


Moi outside the walls of Tattinger. So many Champagne Houses and so little time!


Bread and cheese never tasted so scrumptious!


Our picnic lunch.


While on the tour at VCP, which is of course a working House, we were shown crates of Champagne that had actually just been disgorged hours before. Notice the date!


The recently disgorged bottles. These will be shipped out in a matter of days to locations around the world.


Reims center.


Reims.


Reims.


Pommery Champagne. Lots of money here, folks.


We both signed the guest book at Champagne Pommery.


Caves at Pommery.

We're soon off for our last day in Paris. Thanks for reading!

Posted by ThreeCircles at 9:07 AM Paris Time on 8.17.07.

As I'm sitting down to write this blog entry the clock is nearing 1:30 AM Paris Time. Let this serve as a notice that the entry may not cover all of the gory details of the day as I'm just too tired!

This morning we arose to our "ass-early" wakeup call from the front desk of the Hotel Britanique. We were up by about six in the morning, showered, and were soon out the door on our way to Reims: The city of Kings and Champagne!

Travis had asked the front desk about the location of the Gare de L'Est the night before and we were pretty certain we would be able to find it without difficulty. We opted to walk (about two miles) instead of taking the Metro as the front desk clerk said the Metro would probably take longer than walking at a brisk rate. Besides, we wanted to see as much of Paris as we could during our just-over-48-hour stay. One thing we quickly noticed, the city certainly doesn't wake early as all of the shops were closed down tight and we were among very few city inhabitants out and about.

We arrived at the Gare de L'Est well before our train departure and waited about until the over-head monitors announced the boarding of our train to Reims. The train system in France seems to run at near-clockwork precision and the train ride was smooth, fast, and quite scenic.

Arriving in Reims we were quite taken aback by the beauty of the city. Everything in Paris has been very clean but Reims was actually spotless. It too, just like Paris, was quiet this early in the morning with very few people out and about. This was at 8:42 Reims/Paris Time.

We stopped at Notre Dame de Reims and the Reims tourist board for maps of the area. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris may be more well-known but the Reims Cathedral is just as magnificent and beautiful. We didn't venture inside but the outside views were absolutely magnificent.

Next we headed to our first Champagne House, Pommery. We had a 10:30 tour and tasting scheduled and along the way we passed by Champagne Piper Heidseick. Of course we had to get pictures! After Pommery we went to a local grocer and patisserie for cheese, a baguette, and some water and sat down to a nice picnic at a small park not far from Champagne Veuve Clicquot. It's amazing how fresh, fresh-bread actually tastes and how much better Camembert cheese tastes when you're sitting in a French park! A passing Frenchman bid us Bon Apetit!

After lunch we headed to Champagne Veuve Clicquot for our 2:00 tour and tasting. The Champagne Houses truly are magnificent works of art both for the wonderful wines they produce and house as well as for the architecture and commissioned art work within which they hold. Just as any of the sites in Paris can't be truly captured through words or descriptions, they really must be experienced first-hand through all of the senses. For both of us, the trip to Champagne and the Houses was like a pilgrimage to the Mother Land!

After purchasing a few bottles from VCP we headed back to a quaint little wine shop we had first discovered early this morning after arriving in Reims. We spoke with the shop keepers at length and ended up leaving the story with six more bottles to add to the three we purchased at VCP. We were truly in awe at the selection, prices, and quantity of the Champagne!

After leaving the store, and a sizable chunk of our bank account, we had a mad dash for the Gare de Reims for our return train trip back to Paris. Reims was sunny for the majority of the day but clouds had gathered in the late afternoon and a steady rain was coming down as we walked back to the train station.

The train ride back to Paris was not as smooth as our trip from Paris earlier that morning. First, we boarded the wrong voiture (car) and had to travel upstream like a Salmon attempting to spawn against the steady flow of other travelers that had entered the correct car. Next, someone was in our seats, though she did kindly move when we presented our billets, and finally we were both DEAD tired! We probably walked 5-6 miles in Reims or more and nearly half of that was spent dragging nine bottles of Champagne behind us on cobblestone roads!

Arriving back in Paris we dropped off the Champagne and then headed back out to find food. With only cheese, bread, and water all day we were quite famished. Travis selected a nice little Cafe/Brassiere and we sat down to a nice dinner. It's quite amazing to consider the cultural differences between here and the U.S. when it comes to meals. Here, meals are expected to take 2 hours rather than 20 minutes. They really become a central part of one's day during which one reads, converses with friends and family, and, most of all, enjoys the pleasure of the food and drink. Travis had a nice eggplant, tomato, and olive pasta and I had a nice tuna with pommes de terre. We've both decided that the French truly do know cuisine!

Post-dinner we headed back to the hotel and then out to snap some shots of Paris after sunset. If the city is spectacular during the day, it is truly something to behold after the sun sets. I fully understand where it gets its nickname: The City of Light. We walked to Notre Dame and then over to Rue Saint-Michele in the Latin Quarter. For all the piece and quite of the Notre Dame area the Latin Quarter answers back with full bars, rowdy customers, and a "celebration" atmosphere. We selected a cafe along the rue and had a nice carafe of Bordeaux.

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris as we leave for Espana by train at about 8:30 PM. We're actually sad to leave the city that we've only just begun to explore. One could certainly spend weeks, months, and even years discovering all that Paris and her residents have to offer. Before departing we'll be visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre so watch for updates!

Some pictures here.

Posted by ThreeCircles at 1:52 AM Paris Time.
Edited by ThreeCircles at 8:33 AM Paris Time. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes!

This morning I finished placing the last remaining items in the carry-ons while Travis went to work for a few hours. There wasn't much, just the things that we couldn't pack in advance because we were going to have to use them up until our departure.

Travis returned home shortly after 9:00 and we loaded up his car with all of the bags. There should easily be room enough to accommodate those extra boxes of Champagne on our return trip home from the port. We waved goodbye to Ol' B as she drove away in the car and then headed inside to check in.

We had a "bit" of a problem at the check in counter. It seems that our luggage scale we purchased at Ellenton may be a tad bit off. Or, more likely, the damn Continental scales are off. Our heaviest and largest bag weighed in at 52 pounds, which, as we all well know, could feasibly cause some serious airline malfunctions. Those two extra pounds caused the military-looking woman who was patrolling the Continental Check In area to break out into an angry and frustrating scowl as she barked at us to transfer at least one pound to our third carry on bad. (Note: It has, of course, been scientifically proven that if an airline will crash due to a two-pound overage on a carry on bag, well, this crash can be avoided by shifting ONE pound to another bag. Now, don't mind the fact that the weight is, indeed, ending up on the same plane.)

As the Continental Army Chief's furrowed brow glared down on us we soon realized that we had no way to shift the weight among the bags due to them being sealed with plastic closures. Of course we had contemplated bringing box cutters just in case of such a scenario but then decided we might not pass muster with airport security. We thus asked the General if they, perhaps, would be able to lend us some scissors to which she curtly replied that the airline didn't allow them "to have sharp objects."

Somehow we managed to get the bags open, the weight shifted, and on we went. The great thing about this ordeal is that after shifting some items around we re-weighed the luggage on a different scale and came up a pound short! The security line moved quickly, although it was busy, and as we approached the scanners we both worried that we would be selected for the new "Puff & Scan" machines. We're still not quite sure what these machines were actually doing but they blew strong streams of air at the person selected to stand in the "scanning" enclosure. Perhaps they were sniffing for extra luggage weight! (Edit: GE Puffer info here!)

We're now sitting at Tampa International Airport, at Terminal A, within eyesight of Gate A4 as we await for Continental Flight 219 with service to Newark. They offer free Wi-Fi so that's good. They also have a Jose Cuervo Tequilería so the wait until departure at 1:05 shouldn't be too bad.

Next stop: Newark International Airport where we have a date with Air India!