Normandy, France, June 2010

After a successful weekend away in the Champagne region, 2 weeks before, it was back into France for the weekend, for a trip to Normandy. Once again we were with our Australian friends who were trying to cram in as much travel before they went home, so we literally just jumped on the band wagon. We stayed in a town call Honfleur which was a very quaint French seaside town.

The port in Honfleur which is lined with restaurants. A great spot for a croissant whilst soaking up the French sunshine.

Our apartment was a really good size and a great location right in the heart of Honfleur- in fact we had a food market outside the apartment which was well frequented.

Above- ....and that was just the tomato section at the market!

On the Saturday night we treated ourselves to a Michelin star restaurant in the town - the pictures might not show it but the food was amazing !

Chocolate overdose and the end of our 5th course! There were a few buttons loosened that night to get it all that in- but I would not be defeated!


The monument at Utah beach - this is one of the most famous of the beaches (Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold) and this is where the allies had the majority of their success.

Museum at Utah beach

Antipodean picnic

What a history lesson you get when you visit these places! I learned more in 2 days than I think you could pick up in 3 years studying history at school- that's of course not trying to take a cheap shot at Southland Boys' scholastic brilliance!

The American cemetery at Omaha beach, it is the biggest cemetery from WWII where close to 10,000 soldiers are remembered on a stretch of over 17 acres. This is the same cemetery that is featured at the end of saving private Ryan, a pretty sombre but amazing place.

Above - the crew

Champagne region France- May'2010

With the weather starting to come good but not quite, we decided it best to head to France where sunshine would be more assured. We drove over with our Australian friends Am & Suso. It takes about 45minutes to get from St Albans to Dover and then you load your car on the train ferry and go through the channel tunnel and pop out in France, in about 30 minutes.

We stayed in a town called Eppernay which was about 2 1/2 hours drive from Calais. We found Eppernay much nicer than Reims which is where many of the champagne houses are, but it is also very commercial.

Driving through the winding vineyards just south of Hautvillers.

Tasting session at in Eppernay, it was quite reasonably priced to try the different varieties.

MUMM Champagne house in Reims.

All the major houses offer you tours where they tell you about the champagne making process and then you obviously finish with the mandatory tastings! Whilst it is very interesting hearing the process the first time around by the time we had heard this 3 times we felt like we could take the tour ourselves. Unfortunately, not many houses just offer you tastings so the tour is sometimes an addition you can't avoid.

The secret vault- in here they keep bottles of champagne which are over 100 years old. These bottles still have the sediment in them which allows them to last so long, they then need to go through the last stage of champagne making (freezing the neck and release the sediment and capping).

There are literally 100's of rooms full of bottles of champagne such as this going through the aging process. Back in the day they used people called 'riddlers' whose job it was to twist the bottle slightly and change the angle of the bottle slightly more vertical- what a job!

The picturesque Church at Eppernay which was visible from our bedroom window.

The town of Hautvillers.

In a lot of the towns they had these bushes with blue, white and red plastic flower lookalikes tied on to them- quite nice but kind of strange- why not just have flowers? French eh?

Our apartment in Eppernay was lovely - the owners (Eric) came and meet us and talked about the area and then invited us around to theirs for some champers- which we took them up on.

French fine dining- courtesy of Carrefour and the local markets- Champagne, strawberries, prawns, scallops, cheese and cured meats- yum!

The man himself, Don Perignon, the monk famous for making Champagne. This statue sits outside the Moet and Chandon House. The french pronounce Moet like Mo-itt rather than Mo-ah.

Don Perignon's final resting place in the Monestary Abbey.

In one of the houses there was an exhibition on at the same time, which was cool. The trip to the champagne region was wonderful- it was easy to get there, relaxing, interesting and thirst quenching.