Day 7

Alan and I have really got to stop getting up early. 5:15 this morning. We were headed back to do France. We had to drive to Epernay. This is the champagne region of France. We started the drive off well. Then there was the 100 Euro ($140) charge from the German State Polizei. Alan was caught on the autobahn no less going too fast through a construction zone at 8 in the morning on a Sunday. EVERYTHING IS CLOSED ON SUNDAY’s IN EUROPE…. Except the police. The rest of the drive was smooth but it was a long drive, about 8 hours.

We got to Epernay in time for a tour of the Moet & Chandon caves. We pull up to a beautiful mansion, park and go in to confirm our reservation. We take some pictures while waiting. We begin the tour by viewing the Napoleon room. Napoleon was a big part of Moet family in the 1700s. We then went down into the caves. We saw millions and millions of bottles of Champagne worth over 4 billion Euro. We also got to see a one thousand liter plus keg of wine that Napoleon gave to Claude Moet many years ago, the wine was still inside at over 300 years old. The tour guide stated that it is most likely the most expensive container of vinegar anyone has ever seen.  Of course at the very end, we got to have a glass of the Champagne.

We left in search of internet. We could not find any and decided to head to Reims, a bigger city. The McDonalds (we’re back) didn’t have the free WI-FI they advertised, so we moved on toward Paris. Alan had to use the restroom and all of a sudden pulls a U-ey (which we realize after the fact is illegal in France) and heads back up the street but won't tell me why. We pull another U-ey and he drives and finds what he is looking for; an alley into grape fields. We head into the grape fields for an adventure. 

We are not set to arrive in Paris until tomorrow however, the car is due back early tomorrow morning and we do not have a room booked for tonight. We continue on for an hour and find a rather large McDonalds (and again) advertising free WI-FI. We head upstairs and here we are booking a room. We book a room for tonight and are charging Alan’s cell so that we can successfully get ourselves to the hotel, then to the train station to return the car.

We get to the hotel through hours of Parisian traffic, unload the bags and head back to Gare du Nord to return the car. I think we navigated the highways better than this parking garage. Because it was Sunday evening, all the normal return points were full. So we randomly parked the car in a parking spot and wrote the parking spot number down. We head upstairs to return the keys. We wait in line to speak with the rudest attendant ever; not just because we were Americans. She was adamant that we had our rental contract (which was at the hotel); it would make it easier for her. We were perturbed by her attitude and had never needed a contract before. Oh Well. We gave her the keys, the mileage amount and the parking spot number and left.

We are starving at this point because we had a light lunch. We walk in the direction of our hotel and find a small café still open. We shared amazing French onion soup. Alan had Duck Con Fit and I had Beouf Béarnaise. It was outstanding. For dessert we had Crème Brule. It was fabulous and I don’t even like Crème Brule.

After some sitting at the café we head back to the hotel. We just kept walking and walking for what seemed like forever. Alan was ready to hail a cab to get us back but I was bound and determined to use our sense of direction, and crappy Paris map to get us back. We walk some more and I am convinced I know where we are and that we have to walk south. We do and what do we find? Our street. We are rockstars.

Mr. & Mrs. Green