First Day on the Road: Champagne Country!

Wednesday, May 26 – Epernay: It took us until 11am to get all our stuff in the car — we weren’t rushing — and another 40 minutes to escape the Paris perepherique on the A4 towards Reims. We stopped for lunch at a too-typical restaurant gastronomique in Meaux, a small town famous for brie and mustard with an impressively large cathedral.

The meal was merely satisfactory overall but had some really outstanding items: three mousses as amuse bouches (cauliflower, asparagus, and salmon), a delightful chevre and sweet onion mixture in a filo wrapper:

and a stupendous Dauphinoise (with the mixed grill):

We found a nice chambre d’hote in the compound of a champagne producer. When the wife had shown us to our room, she came back with two small glasses of the vin de maison:

We also had to have some kir royale in the evening in Epernay:

All in all, a nice start!