June 22, 2019 Epernay FR

We picked Epernay as a destination as it was about 60% of the way to Sens, had a decent place to stay, and looked like an interesting place to spend the afternoon.  When we arrived we were worried about whether there would be room in the campground as there was a youth Rugby tournament taking place at the athletic fields surrounding the campgrounds.  Actually we have begun to notice that things are getting more crowded as we go, the aires and campgrounds have been filling up nearly everyday by 5 pm.  We got lucky and did get a spot, but by 5 pm they were also full.

There were about 30 youth rugby teams in the tournament taking place at the campground.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and when we were bored venturing out to watch the youth Rugby.  Ton and I took a walk around 1pm, but in France even youth Rugby tournaments  take a two hour break for a proper lunch.  We enjoyed watching the families lay out a large lunch spread including wine for the adults.  The French surely have their priorities aligned when it comes to food.

Lunch being prepared at the Rugby Tournament.

Epernay is one of the largest producers of champagne, and Moet which is an upscale brand is based there.  Our original plan was to walk into town and poke around, but it was quite hot.  When we checked in they told us there was a wine tour at 5:15 pm for a reasonable price, so we signed up to avoid the walk.  On the tour we were joined by a German couple with a cute Labradoodle named Murphy, and a couple of Dutch guys who were on a weekend trip to stock up with champagne for the year.  The winery was kind of a bust as the owner did not speak much English, and none of us spoke French.  But we made the best of it and ended up enjoying the company of the other people on the tour.

A demonstration of the capping process at our champagne cellar tour.

When we returned Ton made a huge dinner as we are trying hard to eat all of the food in the refrigerator.  Feeling stuffed we decided to take an after dinner stroll when we ran into the Dutch guys again.  As we were exchanging stories Ton told them about the Dutch couple we were parked next to in Bruges, he had told us that he was one of the original surfers in the Netherlands.  When she was explaining the part about the surfer dude from Holland the two guys started speaking excitedly in Dutch, and asked her to describe him in more detail.  They had a little more  conversation in Dutch and then told us we had met Jan van de Berg who apparently is more than just a surfer dude in the Netherlands, but a big deal.   He was an Olympic hero in the 80’s for winning the Netherlands first medal in surfing, also he was apparently a hotty as all of the girls in the Netherlands had posters of him in their bedrooms.  Our street cred with the Dutch guys went up enormously.   Later Ton did some research and we think we met the parents of Jan, and not Jan himself.

May 3, 2019 Essoyes FR

The main goal for us today was to visit the village of Essoyes.  Essoyes is famous as the summer home of Renoir.  He did a lot of his later paintings there, as he spent a lot of senior age years there.  

Last night we parked up on a winery in the area owned by the Lameroux’s.  It was a nice parking spot for up to six campers including water, and a dump.  We walked down to the winery when we arrived to check if it was ok to park.  The wife of the owner met us and she did not speak any English, we managed to mime that we were in the camper aire, and she said good.  We decided against a tasting and she looked relieved.  This morning as we were pulling out her husband happened to be pulling into work.  He stopped and thanked us for staying and invited us back if we were ever in the area, and you could tell it was heartfelt.  Our experience in Les Riceys was really exceptional, and if an area ever motivated me to learn French it was here, as the people were fantastic.

The road from Les Riceys to Essoyes is on the Champagne tourist route.

The drive over to Essoyes was short, and we parked up next to a new museum for Renoir.  In fact it was so new that the main exhibitions were not open yet. The museum included a video presentation about Renoir’s life in Essoyes.  It was quite well done and helped us understand the rest of the tour.  We followed the walking tour thru the village, and as we approached his home we realized we were going to run into lunch.  We went in and did a quick tour, but decided to come back for a more extensive tour after lunch. We saw one of the curators and tried to ask in broken French if we could return after lunch, and he smiled and with a proper English accent said of course.  Later we learned he was from the south of England.

The River Ounce as it cuts thru Essoyes.
The same view as painted by Renoir.

The home Renoir lived in was exceptionally well restored and supported by one of Renoir’s great granddaughters so a lot of the furniture is family heirlooms.  Essoyes is a beautiful village, and if you like impressionists and particularly Renoir it is worth seeking out.

The living room in Renoir’s home.
The bed that Renoir used, he preferred simple country style furnishings.
Another Renoir to finish the day.

It was still pretty early when we were done so we decided to keep heading east.  We picked out the town of Contrexeville in the Vosges as it was generally in the right direction and had a couple of parking options.  The GPS said it was 130km so we figured about 2 hours.  The GPS had lately been picking pretty good roads where the speed between towns is about 80kph (50 mph), and most towns were bypassed.  Today she decided to send us down little D roads where top speed is about 65kph (40mph), but there are lots of little villages where you are creeping thru at 30kph.  Our two hour drive turned into 3 hours.  We did not mind that much as the countryside was really beautiful, and the roads were nearly empty.

A typical view on our drive today.

Contrexeville is a spa town with a small Casino.  They are trying to develop some tourism, but the Vosges do not seem to be attracting a lot of tourism.  The campground tonight is really nice and an incredible bargain at €11.

Ton likes sheep almost as much as she likes cows.  When we crossed over to look at them they were a couple hundred yards away, they all came trotting over to check us out. The Rue de September 11 commemorates the day the town was liberated from the Germans in WWII.

May 2, 2019 Les Riceys FR

We are still a bit jet lagged so we find we are falling asleep late and then sleeping in.  This morning we were not up until 9am.  The plan for the day was to return to the little village we stopped in yesterday.

Les Riceys is actually a combination of three villages that were at one point the border fortresses for 3 different principalities.  In the distant past before France was a country there was a Riceys in the Duchy of Sens, another in the Duchy of Burgundy, and a third in Champagne.  Each of the Riceys have their own fortified church.  They are now happily together as Les Riceys.  

The wine in the area is Champagne, though it has only been allowed to be called Champagne recently due to the strict French rules about these things.  It was restricted because some of the vineyards are in Burgundy, so it was not purely from Champagne.  Now they are allowed to call it champagne as the village mostly resides in Champagne.

An interesting store front in Les Riceys.

Today we stopped at two wineries.  At the first winery Pascal Walczak the owner welcomed us with open arms, but he did not speak English.  Luckily for us there were two other visitors from Luxembourg who took us under their wing and translated for us.  We learned a lot about Champagne.  We were also able to get some tips about places to go in Luxembourg and Germany from our impromptu translators.  It was a nice stop.

The weather called for hard rain in the afternoon so we rushed over to the Tourist Information to try to find another place to visit before the rain set in.  The office recommended a place called Morize Pere & Fils.  She called ahead and said that they were beginning a tour shortly and we needed to  head straight over.  When we go there it was a tour in French, with no helpful Luxembourgers along to help with the translation.  The tour guide was one of the sons, though he was our age.  The tasting was also nice, and the champagne was good.  The problem is neither Ton or I are big fans of champagne, and while we recognized it was good wine, it still was not to our taste.  

The sign board for the winery Champagne Morize Per and Fils.
Rose de Riceys, a very interesting wine unique to the area.

Les Riceys is a nice little village with a well kept feel, and a lot of wineries specializing in Champagne.  If you are a fan we highly recommend you try it.  Right after the second tour the hard rain arrived, so we hunkered down in François for the remainder of the day.

May 1, 2019 Troyes FR

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.

A sample of the wood timbered homes in Troyes.
The cathedral in Troyes.

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.

The three wise women inside the cathedral in Troyes.  A modern interpretation of the three wise men, we think, the sign was only in French.
A gargoyle on one of the churches in Troyes.
Troyes is also the home of the founder of the Knights Templar and the local tourism office uses the knights  to help you on the walking tour of the town.

As we continue to find; often times the best days on these trips are ones you did not plan on.  

April 30, 2019 Chateau-Thierry FR

We slept in a bit as we are still fighting jet lag, but around 9am we decided to get up and get going.  We had a quick last chat with Thom and Kathy before they took off, we hope our paths cross again on our tours.

We decided to hit the Lidl on the way out of town now that we had taken stock of everything we had left behind, we had a few more food items we needed.  We also stopped at the €2 store for a USB splitter for our cigarette lighter, Ton was skeptical but so far it is working great.

Our plans for today was a place that I have wanted to visit since we started visiting France.  Belleau Wood is one of the most famous battles that the Marine Corps has participated in.  The battlefield is located near Chateau-Thierry.  During the battle the Marine Brigade which was attached to the Army 2nd Infantry Division was assigned to first stop a German advance on Paris and then regain some of the ground that had been  lost including a hill top forest/hunting preserve called Belleau Wood.  At the end of the 15 day battle the Marines had over 6000 casualties including 1060 dead.  They fought so ferociously the Germans said it was like fighting Teufel Hunden, which got translated as Devil Dogs, a nick name the Marine Corps carries until today.  The French were so impressed with the valor of the Marines that they renamed the wood, and when you enter the memorial the entrance says Belleau Wood in English, and Bois de la Brigade de Marine (The Wood of the Marine Brigade) in French, as it was renamed.

Ron standing next to a French 75 gun in Belleau Wood, this was also the main artillery piece for the American Forces in WW1.

For a place with such a violent history the wood today is a quiet park, there are some remnants of the trenches that were hastily dug during the battle, and some impact craters from artillery rounds.  Other than that it is an amazingly quiet place with beautiful vistas of the countryside including a wheat field that the Marines had to advance several hundred yards thru under machine gun fire to reach the wood.  The story is that when they were faltering in the wheat field Sergeant Major Dan Daly rallied them by shouting “Come on you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever!”

Next to the wood is the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery which has 2289 graves of Americans killed in Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry including 3 sets of brothers.

The graves are simple Crosses and Stars of David with the name of the man, his unit, and his home state on them.  They tell a very simple story quite movingly.  The most haunting are those that say here lies an American Soldier known only to god, for those who could not be identified.
The chapel on site on the side of Belleau Wood overlooks the grave sites.  Inside is a simple chapel with the names of over 1060 soldiers, sailors, and Marines, who are missing from the battles in this area.  

The final stop for us on the day was the Chateau-Thierry monument which is on a hill overlooking the city.  It was built after the war to commemorate the Americans and French who fought together.

It is a relatively simple monument listing the battles and the major units of the American Expeditionary Force in World War 1.  It was designed by a French-American architect Paul Cretics who served in the French Army during the war.  After the war he returned to the US and designed a war memorial for the state of Pennsylvania before designing this one.

As with every one of the American Cemeteries we have visited in France they are immaculately maintained, and the French staff obviously takes great pride in their work.  Everyone on site that we spoke to including the security guards immediately switch to English when they realize you are American.  They bend over backwards to help you with your questions.  It is really a moving experience.  Tonight we are parked in an aire in Chateau-Thierry but the monument is visible on the hill above town.