France 2009 - Tracy’s birthday! Day trip to the Champagne region

I went downstairs for breakfast while Tracy took a shower. The driver was late but we got off before 8AM. The drivers name was Chris. There was a couple from Brazil and Italy. The young woman in the front seat was from Jordan. Just the five of us plus the driver. The driver was talking most of the way there, he had a particular way of driving. We were surging back and forth from him playing with the gas pedal to modulate his speed control. It was hard to take a nap on the way because he was talking so much. We arrived at the Don Perignon monastery for a quick visit. Then, we went to a small independent owner, William Saintot. This is located in Avanay, near Reims. We got there and had to wait for at least 30 minutes. We met up with five other vans, 38 people plus guides all together. We eventually started the tour, it was not run very well. The owner was not prepared for a large group of people. They can handle smaller groups well but not the size of ours. We ran into the cute driver from our trip the other day. She got lost with her group as well. In the tasting room we were severed one glass, I sampled several others at 2€ each. I ended up purchasing a bottle of their Millennium Champagne. Afterwards we went to Epernay for lunch via driving through the wine vineyards. We were told that the appetizer would be fish and the main course would be poultry (coq au vin and chicken in red wine sauce). When the appetizer was severed, I tried it and it was pretty good. I was very surprised, I liked it! The people from our van sat together. At the end of the meal, our table was the only one that ordered coffee so we were the last to leave. We then headed for Reims. There were many Champagne companies, we ended up going to G.H. Mumm, one of the few German companies in the area. A famous company. They were able to handle a very large group like ours. The tasting room was much bigger and nicer. I ended up buying a bottle of the yellow label, the sweet stuff. We left for the Notre Dame monastery in Reims. Took pics then we headed home. The driver could not find an entrance to the expressway, it took him 30 minutes to leave Reims. Tracy was feeling sick so she cuddled and slept most of the way home. For dinner, we decided to get Chinese take-out. We ended up getting Thai take-out. It was very good. I had a red curry based beef dish Tracy had a green curry based shrimp. Tracy called her mom on Skype and I updated my journals.