Food Food Food

As always a lot of the time in France is spent on eating, and this time didn't differ. The very last thing we did before we left Reims was run into the market hall and buy some Artichokes (they were right in season) so we had some food for the first evening in Paris. And of course, we also visited the market in Sceaux during the weekend.

Château de Dormans

Our last stop in Champagne was Château de Dormans and the memorial chapel in the back, which commemorates the victims of the first world war.

We took a short walk in the garden and after climbing a very narrow spiral staircase we enjoyed a last view over Champagne from the top of the chapel.

It was a beautiful and warm day, the last really good one during our holiday, so it was a great way to leave Champagne behind and head back towards Paris next day. Six days really do go way too fast.

Soissons

On our last day in Champagne, we were supposed to drive to Verdun, but I think we misjudged the distance a bit. So due to the lack of sleep the night before and me being the sole driver we decided instead to go to Soissons. A decision we didn't regret, as Soissons was one of the nicest cities we visited our trip. 

It is one of France's ancient cities, and when arriving there we already had a view of the church towers from the ruins of on old convent. We ate our lunch in the convent ruins and finished fittingly with a religieuse au café. Afterwards, we took a nice walk around the city and passed the cathedral, market hall and finally sat down for a drink before returning to the car.

Reims

In between driving around and experiencing the various parts of Champagne, we were stationed in Reims. A quite charming city with one of the most beautiful art deco market halls I have ever seen (It's the one with the yellow light).

We dropped the car for one day to explore a bit more of Reims and also visit one of the bigger Champagne producers (Vranken Pommery) and get a tour in their cave. I think we realized too late just how far on the other side of town it was, so we arrived exhausted and dehydrated. Good thing they had lots to drink there. After the tour, we found ourselves held captive as it was raining cats and dogs for a while, but it was nice to have another excuse to hop on a bus instead of walking the long way back home.