Where Have You Monkeys Been (Part 2 of 4)

You all know how much we Monkeys love Champagne. So while in Paris, it was necessary to take the hour-long trip to the Champagne region to do a tour and tasting.

This was a great idea, courtesy of our friends AM1 and AM2. We spoiled ourselves with a private tour of four small-producer vineyards. I won't belabor the point of how awesome it was - because you already know that. I booked the tour through Larry at Experience Paris, and he was the best. I highly recommend his company if you want to take a tour of the Champagne region while visiting Paris.

Here is how the day went, I included some of the info Larry sent me about the vineyards and houses.

   
9:45 a.m. Tasting at Godmé Père et Fils: www.champagne-godmé.fr
We tasted in the owners house, like no big deal - come on in. So cool! Established in 1946, Godmé Père et Fils is a traditionnal Champagne maker located in one of the 17 100% Grand Cru villages. They take great pride in protecting nature as much as possible and this year's harvest will be their first to be recognized as being organic - and organic/biodynamic/low-sulfite and sulfite-free wines are HUGE in France right now.

11:00 a.m. Surprise tasting at Champagne Brice: http://www.champagne-brice.com/
We were supposed to go to another producer to taste, but they were closed so our guide scrambled and got us into Brice. One of the owners (Remy) rode up on his bike to let us in, and then proceeded to give us a tour of his 300-year-old cave and a tasting that was unforgettable. Located in the heart of Bouzy, they benefit from the village's micro-climate which allows its local Pinot Noir to be absolutely fantastic.

AM and I with Remy. This guy was very French and very very funny.

12:15 a.m. Lunch at Les Avisés: www.selosse-lesavises.com/
We lunched at a B&B/inn type of place. It was very cute and comfortable. I think we had asparagus, duck, then cheese and dessert. The restaurant had a fixed menu so you just sit down and eat what they had that day. This is such an indicator of the French and their attitude towards food. None of this dairy-free, vegetarian, gluten-free, fat-free, paleo-whoseywhatsit that us spoiled Americans seem to be obsessed with right now. You eat what is fresh and good you will eat it how they prepared it, so shut up and eat. 


2:30 p.m. Tasting at Michel Gonet: www.gonet.fr
This was another location where you just walk in and taste Champagne in someone's house, it seems a bit awkward - but after the first taste, you feel right at home. The Champagne maker here was an amazing woman who told us stories about how a few sips of the humble Champagne can save lives! For real. She sat and tasted with us for an hour or so, no hurry - just keep tasting and enjoy. Then, Dave made her spit out her wine laughing. Anywho, Michel Gonet is located in Avize, and is a Chardonnay specialist. They are part of the larger Gonet group, which owns vineyards all over France.

We only look well behaved.

3:45p.m. Tasting at Tribaut-Schloesser: www.champagne-tribaut.com
Our last tasting of the day was a bit of a bust since we were all tired and full of Champagne. However, we soldiered on. Trisbaut-Schloesser produces 300,000 bottles per year and they make fruity, casual champagne. They have a range of 9 different champagnes including the award winning Cuvée René, 70% chardonnay 30% Pinot Noir matured in oak barrels.

Pretty enough to drink, but not for 3 more years!

Group photo!

Lesson learned: Don't buy six bottles of champagne while tasting and then try to carry them all with you on the train to Avignon the next day. Dear god those bottles are thick and HEAVY; however, any permanent damage to my back is well worth the reward of drinking those beautiful bubbles.

Next post: Avignon, France.

Where Have You Monkeys Been (Part 1 of 4)

Yes part 1 of 4.......

How annoying Monkeys, you ditch everyone for weeks than have all sorts of stuff to talk about. Whatever, at least now I am committed to writing four posts about the shit we have been doing for the last five weeks. It's official.

So Paris. Yeah, 3 weeks in Paris went by in a blink. And every second was outstanding. I love that place: the warm baguettes with dinner every night, the cheese, the wine, the lifestyle, the scarves, the urine-smelling Metro, all of it.

So what did we do? Well we mostly ate and drank good things, oh man  a lot of good things. So many good things that I have a butter-induced spare tire around my waist - worth every bite/drink as far as I am concerned.

Camembert, jambon, walnuts, tomatoes, eggs, and roasted potatoes = SALAD.

But also I was productive (kind of). I went to French class in the mornings at the Leutece Language School, then I worked in the afternoons at our cute little apartment. We stayed in the 19th Arrondissement, a bit outside of the normal tourist track - but totally cool! We were adjacent to the very trendy bars, boutiques, restaurants, and cafes of the Parisian "Bobo" area (bourgeois boheme). I would say the area is similar to the Mission in SF maybe, but much cleaner and less scary. There were so many affordable, interesting places to go and things to do. I will definitely stay out there the next time I am in Paris. Though a note of warning: it helped that I could speak a bit of French as English was definitely not ubiquitous in these parts.

So what else......

Well, it was mother effing ass unseasonably cold the WHOLE TIME we were in Paris. And also rainy. My broken umbrella and I were really sad about it. All I wanted was to escape the looooooooong cooooooold British winter, and Paris was absolutely no better than London. I was lucky if it broke 55 degrees the entire 3 weeks. Booooo.

It wasn't all bad though, after all it is Paris. There was biking, that made me happy!

City-sponsored Velib bikes!

There was the Paris St. Germain soccer match, which we attended with the gorgeous, Canadian Kerry Anne from my French class. The match happened to be David Beckham's last game ever! 

Love you Kerry!

Also, there was the Paris sewer tour. OK - I know it sounds weird. But actually, it was really interesting, perhaps because I used to work at a civil engineering firm......but I digress.

A bit stinky but cool.

We also toured around the Palais Royal and the covered galleries of Paris, which are a little hidden-gem of a tourist attraction, because tourists don't really know about them. At least, I didn't until this trip.

Douche.

Posts will follow about our day trip to the Champagne region (yes), Avignon (double yes), and finally Tahoe - where we are hanging out right now for a few days.

Love you bye!