Friday, May 17, 2013

Day 2 Cell phones, Champagne & Cathedrals

I would like to give a shout out to the tripadvisor posters that helped me plan this portion of our trip. Without their help we would still probably be driving in circles. Sunshine817, Psychowarthog and Essexwander. Many thanks for your time and effort it is greatly appreciated.

I forgot to mention on yesterdays post that I had my first experience with paying to use a restroom. We had a quick unremarkable Jambon sandwich at Chessy station and I figured that I would use the restroom prior to leaving. So I treck all the way to the top floor and find the restroom in the back reccess' of the train station. I wasn't so much surprised to find a bathroom attendant wanting .25euro as I had of course read about having to pay. I was mad at myself for leaving my purse with Mark on the main level so 2 trips to get the job done.

Well today was to be the first of many that the birds woke us up very early which is a good thing when you have as much to see and do as we did. After showering and eating our not so fresh pastries purchased the day before we were off........to the mall, but not before Mark emptied the toilet cassette, dirty water tank and refilled the clean water tank. This was to be the ritual most mornings or when we left a campground and Mark had it down to a fine science before our last weeks.

We put the address for the Disneyland Mall into Tom Tom and he got us there easy enough however he delivered us to the backside of the mall and we proceeded through about 15 minutes of stop light to find an area of the mall that we could park the camper in. Fortunately it was near the Auchon (think Super Target) that we were needing to shop at. As we walked into the mall one of the first places we saw and stopped at was a cell phone repair shop. The gentleman spoke very little English and tried to help but to no avail, the phone was still programmed in French and wasn't speaking any English. We then took it to the cell phone counter in Auchon where the guy helped us purchase a card with minutes and input the information so we could at least call out if needed, he even dialed our number from his to make sure it was working. We had gotten the phone only in case of an emergency but I still felt a lot better when we knew that it was working and had minutes in it. We then purchased our sheets, blanket and a broom for the RV. We had discovered the evening before at the grocery store that most of them don't have the correct slider to use an American charge card so we are stuck paying cash at most of the grocery stores.

Before we left we decided to eat at McDonalds for lunch since it was right there and it was about 1pm already.  For many of you who haven't been to a McD's in Europe they have computers near the entrance that you can input your order and then go up to the counter to pay. Many of them have McCafes inside the McD's that is a small coffee bar and some have awesome pastries more on that later. Not that we wanted McD's but we really needed to get an e-mail off to family at home to let them know we made it safely. So a Cheesburger Royal later Mark decides to use the restroom. A second later he is back at the table hunting for the receipt with the code on it to unlock the restroom door (I almost titled this blog have toilet will travel, since we made good use of the one in the camper).

We finally get on the road to our next destination with a slight change. We were going to Reims, then a a ride through the Champagne country to Verzenay and then down to Epernay to stay the night. We got such a late start out that we cut Verzenay out. We made it to Reims without incident and found a parking lot near where we entered town. This we find out later on is not usually so easy. We walk around Reims and find Notre Dame cathedral. Fall in love with it and take a million pictures that do it no justice. I warned Mark that Notre Dame in Paris won't be able to hold a candle to this one. It was so quite and it seemed like we had the place to ourselves. I figures 20 minutes would be an adequate amount of time but we spent much longer admiring the beautiful craftsmanship.

                                                              Reims Gilded Gate
Notre Dame Cathedral Reims
                                                       
This golden chandelier was ablaze from the sunlight streaming in the door.
                    

Begrudgingly we leave the cathedral since we have so much more to see and do. As we are walking to the RV we pass a pastry shop. Lo and behold they have Macarons, so we stop in and purchase several. Oh how yummy they were. To bad these were the only ones we got the whole trip.

                                                                Pastries oh yum

Also I would like to mention that while walking around and taking pictures a lady saw us trying to take our own photo together and came up and offered to take one for us. Very nice of her and though I do this all the time nobody else the rest of the trip offered on their own. I still don't get why people call the French rude.

Back in the RV and off to Epernay....the long way around dear Tom Tom bless his heart tries hard but doesn't always get you there as he should. Thank goodness there was good signage to get us there. We had a beautiful drive and once there we attempt to find the municipal camping that I had researched. We drove around for a while and had a good look at everything the town had to offer other then parking for an RV, when we ended up in the next town over called Ay we turned around and came back.

                                              De Castellane Water Tower Epernay
After much bickering I finally told Mark that he had to pull into the church parking lot next to us. He wasn't to sure about parking in this lot and taking up 3 spots. I assured him that since it was past 7pm we could stay there as long as we were out by 7:30am. We then started walking around looking for a restaurant and found one near by called Le Sardaigne. Yes it's Italian but at this point we are just ready to eat something nice. It looked full but were surprised to get seated right away in the cellar. We had a wonderful meal and a great bottle of Malard Blanc de Blanc Champagne...this was a must since we were in champagne country and had no time to do any tastings anywhere.

                                                            Malard Champagne

                                                          Marks Del Mare starter
                                                           Pasta with Truffles

We had to laugh that the music being played was not the romantic french music we expected it was American rock and roll, as was the case in most every restaurant through Europe.

When we tried to pay with the credit card it again didn't work and after 2 different cards we gave up and payed cash. Not certain if the hostess just didn't know how to work the machine (she tried 2 separate machines)  or if it really wasn't working. Back in the camper all tucked in for the night and have a hard time sleeping until the traffic noise dies down.

I wake at the first light and start to get around as I opened the sunroofs my breath was taken away as I peered right up onto the spire of Epernays Notre Dame Cathedral. This is just one of many great sight that we woke to on the trip. So we're up and off as we are finding our way out of town Mark spies a pastry shop and pulls up on the curb down from it so I can run in real quick. He had a laugh as he looked in his review and noticed several people pulling up and double parking to run and get their morning pastries. I think he is starting to realize that the Europeans our forgiving for this quick parking technique. So we are off to Germany.

                                                      Notre Dame Cathedral Epernay


Epernay country side

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