Best of Eastern France tour 9/08-9/21 tour mates!

Judy B, I am so excited that your are taking this tour. It was one of our favorites, and we've taken a lot of tours!

Oh I would love to take that tour again, you will love it!

Hello Judy, my husband Andy and I (Linda) will be on this tour. We heard it is a fabulous tour. We are going to arrive a couple days early to recover from jet lag and tour the champagne region. Linda

I’m so happy to meet you, Linda! I will arrive a couple days early as well. I haven’t started planning yet but will do so soon.

My husband and I are excited to be on the tour with you! This is our 2nd RS tour and we can’t wait!

I’m glad to meet you, Dede. I think this will be a fantastic tour. I’m already organizing my clothes for the warmer temperatures.

Will you arrive early? I arrive on 9/06 to Paris and will take the train to Reims.

We are arriving in Paris on September 7th and plan to take the train on to Reims. It’s going to be great!

The Hotel list and Tour roster were in my tour account today!

Hi Judy:
My husband Dennis and I will be on the Eastern France tour with you. We are also excited about the tour, and will arrive in Reims the night before. Looking forward to our travels together! Pam S

Can’t wait to meet you all!

I’m excited to meet you! Leaving in 3 weeks to Paris.

Since our tour begins in champagne-centric Reims, I wanted to let you all know there's an interesting movie out called Widow Clicquot which tells the origins story of Veuve Clicquot. I learned that veuve = widow in French! There's also a book: The Widow Clicquot: the Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzzeo. I plan to pick it up at my local library tomorrow and hope to read it by the time we are in Reims.

Thanks for the info about the movie, Judy B. I’m going to watch it before I go. I’m leaving Oct 3 for the last tour of the season and I’m very excited to experience all of it. But I do love champagne and Veuve Clicquot is one of my favorites even if I only have it once a year. My husband buys bubbly for me at Christmas. Unfortunately it’s a bit out of our price range other than a yearly splurge. Come back from France and tell us all about it!

Such a great tour! Hadn’t seen the movie but definitely read the book before we took the Eastern France tour. We visited Mumm before the tour started. Never did get to Cliquot - a reason to head back to Reims!

Judy B,
Thanks for suggesting The Widow Clicquot movie, which we just finished watching. Now I'm wondering if we should visit Veuve Clicquot before the tour begins. Unfortunately we are not on your tour.

I think I will reserve a time for the Clicquot tasting because it’s so expensive here in the US. It will be a treat to sample it there in its home environment.

Our local art house cinema held a special showing of Widow Clicquot a couple of weeks ago, sponsored by a Tulsa liquor store with free (small) glasses of Veuve Clicquot! That was a treat.

I haven't yet read the book, but I just requested it from a local library. I suspect it'll have quite a bit more to say about the actual process of making champagne than the movie did.

Jane,

Veuve Clicquot: What did you think of this champagne? I don't have much knowledge of Champagne, except I know I don't like really "dry" champagne.
After watching the movie, I thought it would be fun to go to the Veuve Clicquot and have a tasting there. Their tours were sold out on the days convenient to our time in Reims.

We enjoyed the movie. The book is wonderful. I bought the audio book and think I will listen to it again on the flight. We booked a tour at Ruinart before the tour begins. Hoping to stop by Veuve Clicquot for a glass as well!!

Carol, I don't really care much for champagne, but I did like the Veuve. It was dry, but not bone dry, and had some fruitiness to it.

I know my sister used to drink a lot of it - her standard order when out to dinner was a bottle of Veuve!

@Jane: Thanks for info. I’m looking forward to having a glass of their rosé champagne.

I also want to thank you for mentioning on another post that the 2 of you watched “Understanding Greek and Roman Technology”-Great Course, in preparation for this tour. We are in the midst of watching the episodes. Fascinating!!!
Having that knowledge will give us a greater appreciation when we go to many of the Roman sites on this tour!