Today is labor day in France so we knew we were going to be limited in our sites as most everything was closed. Since we are in the Champagne region we decided we should go to some wineries. Ton did some research and while Chateau-Thierry is in the heart of the high end champagne country she decided we should go to southern Champagne as it has smaller family run wineries vs the big world wineries like Dom Perignon. We aimed for a town called Riceys as it has a lot of family run wineries.
After an uneventful run over very quiet roads due to the holiday (no trucks) we got to Riceys and found two free aires on winery sites. But it is a small town and as it was a holiday everything was closed. After a little poking around Ton suggested we head to Troyes which was only about 45 minutes away.
Ton made a great call, as Troyes was a beautiful town to walk in, even though almost everything was closed. Troyes has one of the best collections of half timbered homes in France and most of the city center still contained these wood timbered building. While many of them have been modernized and turned into name brand businesses they still bring a great feel to the town.
We also toured the cathedral as it was open. As our first cathedral of the trip it did again impress us. It was interesting as it has a lot of 20th and 21st century religious art on the inside.
As we continue to find; often times the best days on these trips are ones you did not plan on.