Colmar to Champagne country then home

The next day, after leaving Colmar, we drove through vineyards and farmland. Mostly very attractive to drive though. However, we noticed some of the French towns in the area as we headed inland from the German border are looking rather shabby and down at heel. Apparently they were beginning to suffer even prior to the current economic crisis.

Munster
Not far from Colmar is Munster, an attractive little town which makes a distinctive cheese and has an additional eye-catching town feature. Although we had seen a couple in Colmar, Munster wins the prize for storks on roofs. Many of the town's bigger buildings have large stork nests on them, all filled with storks of course. Must be a permanent feature as the local hotel and pharmacy are both called "The Stork".

Tendon
At last! After finding so many antiques shops closed, or containing 'top end', very expensive items, we found the sort of shops I love: full of clutter, but clean and moderately priced. This little town, Tendon, had three antique shops filled with all sorts of curiosities. I managed to find a number of treasures, helped by one owner, who, when I told him I was also a dealer, said that in France, if the price of the item is, say, 40 euros, you say, "no, no, no, much too expensive", and offer 25 euros and they will probably accept. So were soon learnt not to trust the asking price.

Searching for a hotel
By late afternoon we started to look for a hotel in the spa town of Vittel, but found a number of them closed, fully booked or simply not worth staying at. So, with slight desperation we headed for the next large town. On the way we spotted a large, brightly painted concrete block with the word "Hotel ** " on top. It looked terrible but we decided to check it out.
The inside was much better than expected and two rooms were available with free parking, breakfast included, and all at a reasonable price. The room TVs had CNN, BBC and MTV, and free WiFi in the main lounge/bar. The view from our room window was across gardens and farmland. Even more important, the hotel had a huge restaurant where we all enjoyed an excellent meal of roast duck and wine for a very reasonable price. So one should be careful not to judge from appearances. (Specially when desperate!)

In the morning we visited a huge monument (which has a large attached museum) to General de Gaulle. It is a massive brick Cross of Lorraine, splendidly situated high on a hill, overlooking farmland for miles, just above the little village in which the General grew up. The town was neat, pretty and looking prosperous, the first in this part of the country. In some ways though, it is a pity it was built here, as most of the French will probably never visit this relatively isolated area.
Entrance to the lift is shaped like the French military cap, worn by the General.


Lac du Der
The next day we headed for the nearby lakes district, hoping to find somewhere attractive to stay. The lakes, we were to learn, are not natural, but man-made constructions to deal with the flooding to which the area is prone. There were not as many suitable places to choose from as we hoped, and at the first, a farm stay, with a big restaurant, the young man said we would have to wait several hours for our room. Another also had not yet readied the rooms (about 4pm) and it was so isolated we would have had to drive some distance for a meal. Yet another said they were 'full' but in fact they seemed to be closed. Then suddenly we found a chambres d'hotes that looked like an old half-timbered farm house with guest rooms on offer in a small village with a long name: Giffaumont-Champaubert.

There was a sudden downpour of rain so I stayed in the car, shouting through the B&B gate intercom from the car window, thinking that is where I am hearing the voice of the owner. But the owner was actually talking directly to us from the nearby doorway. John and Barry broke up laughing.

We booked into the newly renovated rooms at just 52 euros per room, (in spite of the proximity of the church bell tower) and then went for a walk to the levee holding up the lake. Jan and Barry walked on and we got the car, eventually meeting at the only restaurant open tonight, apart from bars selling snack foods. We were very early and the first there but had excellent meal -- though pricey at 150 euros altogether. Very rich selection of plates, one like a whole piece of pickled liver. I had fillet steak (probably veal) which was very good but we were a bit disappointed in the desserts.

In the morning, after a peaceful night (the bells are switched off at 10pm) a good breakfast was provided, As usual it consisted of OJ, tea, coffee or hot chocolate, with fresh crusty bread and jams. Today yoghurt and stewed fruit was also included. A French couple from Luxemburg, speaking good English, joined us at breakfast. Then suddenly two Gendarmes appeared at the door. Apparently cars parked in the street had been broken into, and the number plates had been stolen from the car of our breakfast companions. We immediately checked our car, but nothing was missing. It made us realise how lucky we have been, and the reason for usually trying to get secure overnight parking.

Another beautiful day. We stopped for coffee at Vitry-le-Francois at the edge of a huge central square, and then later stopped in the bigger town of Chalons-sur-Marne.







After a walk through the town squares and pretty public gardens, of Chalons

we had lunch at the very busy restaurant, la Bourse, where we had excellent salads and my favourite dessert--- tarte tatin with creme fraiche -- superb.










Epernay
Our destination for the evening was Epernay, the capital of the champagne district.

In Epernay we booked two rooms at a B&B in the nearby country through the tourist office. Jan & Barry went to the Moet&Chandon headquarters on a guided tour and we explored town (having been on the tour in a previous visit).

I bought my French perfume which is not readily available in Perth). We bought some salad and meat rolls and pastries to take away for tea as the B&B didn't have a restaurant. Our rural B&B was the home of a local wine grower/maker (Champagne.) The house was quite modest and the rooms rather curiously decorated (ours had an oriental theme) but in a stunning setting with glorious views over vineyards to the little village below.



Our fellow guests were English, the Fothergills, French residents from Montpellier, who were returning their elderly mother to the UK. They were a very nice trio and we shared travel stories. Madame, our hostess, seemed a bit miffed that all her guests could communicate in English, and when she got the opportunity she talked away in French to all who could understand. (And to those that couldn't.)
We bought a bottle of our host's not inexpensive champagne to go with our rolls and pastries. It seemed a bit incongruous, but the champagne was very good. (2002 harvest)

Last day.
After breakfast, at which Madame, snatched away one of the dishes of butter Barry was using, saying; "That's not for you!", seemed to momentarily accuse us of stealing her teapot stand, and got into a bit of a tizz when we pointed out her dog had left great big turds in the driveway ideally placed for us to step into as we got into the car, we made a clean getaway.
We set the GPS for the car depot at the airport. We had a good journey, initially through Champagne villages (though we nearly ran out of diesel) before returning to the Paris airport via the freeways without further incident.
At the airport we shared a last coffee with Jan and Barry who were flying a little later via London on Qantas and we boarded our Emirates flight for home.

It has been a great holiday, we have seen and done so much that it feels longer than four weeks, but I know within a few days I will probably suffer a little from apres-vacances tristesse as life returns to the humdrum everyday.