Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: Spring Fever 2008

The Tour de France continues

I once again had breakfast at the Maison de Rhodes and spent the morning taking a short walk, relaxing and packing for the move to my next destination, Reims. So, I was going from the ancient capital to the modern capital of Champagne and, more importantly, I was about to join the FlyerTalk Champagne Do, the latest in the series known as the Tour de France. The principal Do organiser, chrissxb, had very kindly offered me a lift between Troyes and Reims, which proved to be very useful as there is no direct rail service. I was picked up shortly after 1pm and chrissxb, flysurfer and I made our way to Reims, calling first at the Pierre Paillard Champagne house in Bouzy, to finalise arrangements for Saturday afternoon and to collect a few half-bottle cases, as there was to be a surprise of the bubbly liquid variety included in everybody's Do welcome pack!

In good time, I was checking into my latest hotel, the Holiday Inn Garden Court in central Reims. The weather had quite suddenly taken a dramatic turn for the better and I was keen to fit in an introductory walk before the first Do event later in the evening. I had a most enjoyable walk around the compact city centre in the late afternoon sun, managing to see a quite creditable number of the main sights. (Well, I thought so anyway! ) Incidentally, if Troyes Cathedral was fairly impressive, Reims Cathedral was absolutely stunning in the early evening sun, but let's leave a closer look at that until tomorrow.

After a shower and change of clothes, it was time to set out for our Michelin-starred restaurant for the first Do dinner. This proved to be a quite exceptional experience, fine food and wines combining with excellent company to give a superbly enjoyable evening.

Introductory walk in Reims

Gourmet Dinner

Friday 11 Apr

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