After a painfully long wait to go through customs at Charles De Gaulle airport, we had another wait at the Europcar counter before fetching our cute, shiny black Fiat 500 mini, & escaping to freedom on the French roads. We jumped on the highway out of Paris towards Champagne, & within an hour & a half, we arrived in the gorgeous country town of Epernay.

We parked up & headed off in search of somewhere we could grab lunch. Walking through a lush green park that featured fountains & glorious garden beds, we found a bright yellow corner restaurant that offered a decently priced set menu & some respite from the French sun. Our meals were tasty & generous, however they were also meat heavy - rich & filling, so we agreed on the fact that we wouldn’t need dinner!
We paid up the bill & returned to the car, setting off to find our next Air BNB accommodation. After we managed to slightly get lost, we worked it out & pulled up outside a house in a friendly neighbourhood. Our host Emilie greeted us & showed us to our room before she ducked off back to work. We decided to dump our bags & head off to find a champagne house Sean had heard about. Driving south for a good thirty minutes, we arrived in a town called Grauves, & shorty at our destination, Champagne Pierre Domi.

We pulled in & were greeted by a friendly Frenchman who showed us through to the tasting room. He didn’t speak much English, nor us French, however we managed to communicate that we would like to taste a few of his wines. We tried three different drops, firstly the Grand Reserve Brut which was my favourite, the Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay which was Sean’s, & finally a 100% Pinot Meunier which was interesting & tasty. We decided to buy one of our favourites each, & we were shortly back in the car, & back on the road towards Epernay.
Heading North this time, we ventured to a hillside town called Hautvilliers, which is allegedly where Dom Perignon produced his first batch of what he called ‘the best wine in the world!’ The town was cute & small with loads of nooks, crannies & flower pots. We stumbled upon another cellar door called G.Thibault, which offered a beautiful view over Epernay & beyond.

We went inside & were sat at a table whilst the two ladies running the place were literally running around trying to serve the masses. We finally decided to taste a Grand Vintage, Brut Reserve & a Brut Rosé. All three were okay, but unfortunately not as great as Pierre Domi! We paid for our tasting along with a half bottle of the Rosé & headed off again.
Arriving back home right before Sean had too much bubbles to be able to drive, we quickly got changed & headed off to find oysters for dinner. We indeed found them at a fishmongers in the centre of town. After communicating with the fishmonger with the limited English he knew, the end result was a dozen oysters, & after picking up our bottle of duty free veuve clicquot, we found ourselves in a small park in the centre of town next to the oldest monument in town, a stone door! We dived into our delicious, fresh oysters & clinked our flutes together, toasting to the fact that we were in France & treating ourselves!

After hanging about until around 8, we walked home jolly & a little drunk, got there & headed straight to bed. It was so hot we couldn’t sleep without the curtain & window of our attic room open, however even at 10pm the sun was still out & bright, birds were still chirping & kids were still playing! It was a bizzare change from an African winter but eventually we somehow managed to drift off!
The next morning we arose at 8:30, had quick showers & set off on foot towards Avenue De Champagne, the main road in Epernay where many champagne houses line the streets with golden gates & white stoney yards. Our destination was Mercier, & after 20 mins of walking we made it through the doors. We went on a tour of the caves in a small train, listening to the history & methods of Mercier. Following this was a tasting, & we received three coupes to try; the grand brut, the vintage & the rosé. All were very good, yet still not as great as the first place we visited, so we passed on buying anything, & then it was back to the house, back into our Fiat, & back on the road to be in Paris to meet Bridie & Tam by mid afternoon!

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Bonjour champagne and sunshine; Epernay, France.