Rivers of Champagne

Over the last 2 days we have been touring the Champagne region of northern France in our hire car. After having breakfast in Etoges (population 300), we toured the small villages around there before heading to Epernay after lunch, by which time the turmoil caused by the Tour de France going through there had subsided. We then had a tour of the Moet & Chandon establishment which was quite an eye opener. They have over 28 km of underground tunnels in which they store their champagne in bottles during the fermentation process. We walked along one 300 metre stretch in which some 3 million bottles were being stored. They don’t know how many bottles they have in total, except to tell us that one of their bottles is opened every 1 point something seconds somewhere in the world.

We then drove to Troyes, a magnificent medieval town, modernised to preserve its history. Old, leaning timber buildings with modern glass and stainless steel shops at ground level epitomised the style. We got caught in a Saturday morning market and only escaped after buying some of the local produce – purely for research purposes. Say "cheese" and you'll get a clue.

Saturday afternoon – drove south to Dijon and returned our hire car. Along the journey, we discovered that when you get to a motorway toll booth that says “Billet” (ticket), you shouldn’t panic if you haven’t got a ticket and try to exit before the tool booths and end up in a farmer’s field. What the signs are telling you is that you should take a ticket so that when you get to the next set of toll booths, they’ll know how much to charge you – which is usually plenty. And when you do finally exit, don’t go to a booth that only takes credit cards if you want to pay cash – the 5 cars lined up behind you didn’t seem to see the funny side when you try to back out.

We found Dijon bustling with a Saturday market – the only disappointment was that we couldn’t get any Merrill’s or Kraft mustard here - so much for being famous for mustard.....

In front of the fabulous Chateu d'Etoges

Typical public art in roundabouts in Chanmpagne

Vineyards by the hectare in Champagne

The famous statue at M & C

Inside the cave tunnels at Moet & Chandon

The most famous street in Epernay

Saturday night in Troyes

Mustard choice overload in Dijon