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Bits & Bobs 2 involves no flying so look away now if this will cause you to get a case of the jitters. It does however involve copious amounts of champagne, fine food and good company.

This is the story of my trip to Reims in France to attend the Champagne Do.
When this Do was announced I was more that a little interested but was unable to commit straight away. As time wore on and my schedule for this year firmed up I decided I going to take the plunge and commit to the Do.

After making the decision I then needed to decide how to get there. I priced up flights to CDG and then the train and also decided to look at Eurostar prices. As it turns out I was able to travel Leisure Select (cheap First) on Eurostar with a connecting ticket to REH for less than the cost of a Club Europe flight on BA.
The added benefits of the train included:

• the ability to have a look at the new St Pancras station, which is easy to get to from my flat;
• I didn’t have to do the laborious trip to LHR and deal with delays and queues;
• I was able to buy through tickets to Reims on the Eurostar website;
• And best of all, given where I was going, no liquids problems at security.

So there we have it a FT trip report with no flying in it. What is the world coming to?

I started my journey in the all too familiar trek on the tube to get to St Pancras station which is a short 20 minute ride.

At St Pancras I walked into the shopping mall portion of the station and had a wander around to see what was there. I then made my way to ‘check-in’ which is really just a series of gates where you insert your ticket. After this I passed through security not having to worry about liquids. Then there was a short queue to go through UK border control and the French immigrations.

Inside I had a quick tour and then located the entrance to the Business Premier lounge. The Leisure Select fare does not include access to the lounge but a flash of my Amex Platinum card and I was welcomed inside at around 10:45. I was told that they would announce the boarding at 20 minutes prior to departure.

I grabbed a juice, coffee and a snack and read the paper for a while. The lounge had tea, coffee, wine, beer, soft drink and juices along with croissants, fruit, olives, nuts and biscuits to eat.

Boarding was announced at the prescribed time and I made my way out to the platform. There was a bit of a queue waiting to travel up to the platform. I made my way to my carriage and was greeted there and asked to stow my wheelie on the rack and my other bag could go overhead.

Eurostar Train No. 9022 London – Paris Nord Seat 21 Coach 12
Departure time: 11:32

I found my solo seat in the carriage which was laid out in a 2-1 configuration.

We pulled out of the station on time at exactly 11:32. Not long after leaving a round of drinks was offered by the crew, I of course had a glass of the Pannier champagne.

As we tumbled along I was curious to see where we would cross the Thames. On it’s old route the Eurostar didn’t need to worry about this as Waterloo is South of the River. St Pancras is North and hence we needed to pass over/under the river at some point. I recognised the QE II Bridge in Essex not long before we went into a tunnel and emerged on the south side of the Thames a little later.

We entered the chunnel at 12:04 at which time the lunch service began. For lunch was a salad, a choice of Chicken and Leek pie, Fish with Orange sauce or a Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli. A small panna cotta dessert was also on the tray with a chocolate from Jeff de Bruges to have with the coffee.

I chose the Chicken and Leek Pie which was quite tasty although it was odd they chose to do a pastry meal when the food is heated in a microwave.

I heard a most amusing comment from the passenger in the seat next to me. Upon unravelling the cutlery he announced to his wife ‘Oh these are much better that British Airways use’.

We popped out of the chunnel at 12:32 UK 13:32 France into some light rain.
There was no service to speak of once the lunch and coffee service were done with although people were asking for extra drinks along the way.

We arrive into Paris on time at 14:47. I collect my things and walked out of the front of Gare de Nord and turned left. According to my less than photographic memory I remembered that Gare de l’est was somewhere in that general direction. I kept walking in a straight line until I hit a brick wall, which was the edge of the railway lines heading into Gare de l’est. I turned right and down the road and a set of stairs and the station entrance was before me. It must have taken around 5-7 minutes to navigate between the two stations.

Once inside I had just over an hour to wait for my connecting train. I found a Virgin store and was able to purchase a CD in French that I had wanted for a while but was priced very stupidly on Amazon in the UK.

Eventually my train was announced and the boards showed me the platform to which I had to find. I walked up to my coach, on board and settled in for the short ride to Reims.

TGV Train No. 2743 Paris Est – Reims Seat 31 Coach 13
Departure time: 15:57

There was no service on this train as it was only a 45 minute journey. I was in the first class coach as the Leisure Select Eurostar books into First and so the onward journey did likewise. On this train the configuration was 1-2.

We arrived in Reims on time at 16:42. I had a rough idea of how to get to my hotel and walked the 10-15 minute journey.
I checked into my small but comfortable room at the Holiday Inn Garden Court and rested for a while before meeting the gang to head out to dinner.

We walked up to the restaurant which was only 15 minutes away. Dinner for this evening was at Le Millenaire a Michelin Star restaurant.
We started with aperitifs of champagne and some canapés.
The food and wine at the restaurant were absolutely superb, as one would expect and each course was a taste sensation. The wine and champagne we drank at our table were capably selected by Falco Peregrinus.

The amouse bouche was a savoury custard with lobster (I think) inside. The menu read as follows:
After a very long and delicious meal we all retreated to our rooms for some sleep.

After a lazy start I headed up to the Cathedral De Notre-Dame with some others of the FT family. As with most cathedrals I was blown away by the sheer size of these buildings and contemplating the effort that was put into building them. On the outside of the cathedral I noticed really interesting gargoyles. They were all in the shape of various different animals. We amused ourselves for a while identifying the different critters that adorned the exterior of the building.
After the cathedral we did a bit of a wander around the town and then out for lunch before meeting the gang for the next part of the DO.

We were bussed to Bouzy where M Paillard showed us his vineyards from a view point overlooking the valley. He spoke about the different grape varieties grown in the region and the process of growing and harvesting.

We then headed back to the town to his winery. We were taken down the Caves and M Paillard explained the method of making champagne.

On the surface again we were able to taste the ‘raw’ ingredients of champagne, that being some Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wine that would later become champagne in around 4 years.
We then tasted some of M Paillard’s excellent champagne.
Back on the bus to Reims and a chance to chill for a while until the dinner.

We met up again and walked down to Brasserie FLO for an aperitif of champagne of course taken on the terrace.
We sat down to the dinner at around 21:00. On the menu tonight was:

Just prior to the dessert course we all took part in a quiz on the subject of champagne. There were many prizes on offer including various airline pyjamas, some flyertalk merchandise and a magnum of Paillard champagne.

It seems this little bunch of ours weren’t as knowledgeable on the subject of champagne as we would have liked. There were 15 questions and the best any of us could muster was 9 correct answers. First place was a tie but the decider question was one that tipped the winning place in favour of some tinny Aussie guy.

How on earth could I let the Magnum go to someone else so I chose that as my winning prize. The rest of the prizes were selected by people in order of the number of correct answers.

In the midst of this fun we had a birthday to celebrate. As the clock had ticked over midnight it was now time to celebrate Jenbel’s birthday.

We sat down to our dessert followed by some coffee. We were the last to leave the restaurant at around 01:30 and wearily made our way back to the hotel.

A very lazy start to the next morning with most people staying in until it was time to catch some cabs up to Pommery.

At Pommery we were taken down the caves and were told about Louise Pommery who made a success in the champagne business which was until then a male domain. We toured the caves and were shown the various named areas where champagne destined for a certain market were stored in the past.
Louise Pommery was a great art lover and commissioned works of art to be carved into the chalk. This champagne and art marriage continues to today and there are various modern art pieces scattered about the caves.

At the end of the tour two of our party were able to try their hand at uncorking a bottle of champagne with a sabre. We all survived with no blood involved and more importantly little champagne was lost in the process. We had a tasting and some canapés down in the caves.

We then ascended the stairs to a lovely room to have a lunch of 1998 Grand Cru Pommery champagne, that just kept coming, and some finger foods.

After drinking several glasses of the Vintage champagne out came the Rose champagne with which we had some sweet treats.

Feeling very happy we all bid our farewell to the house of Pommery and at this point I made my way back to the hotel to wait until it was time for my train to Paris.

I walked down to the station with my extra heavy backpack that now contained a magnum of champagne.

The platform was announced just as I walked into the station and I walked over to the train and on board.

TGV Train No. 2738 Reims - Paris Est Seat 41 Coach 12
Departure time: 16:15

The train pulled out at exactly 16:15 and soon we were speeding along the track back to Paris. We pulled into Paris at 17:00 on time.

I walked back to Gare De Nord and made my way upstairs to the check-in area for Eurostar. The train prior to mine was due to leave in around 40 minutes and they were holding up the queue for my train until they got all of those passengers processed. I joined the queue at around 17:10 and didn’t make it to the lounge until 17:40. The same procedure was followed here in Paris whereby I was checked by French border control and then UK immigrations. After this I went through security and then on into the lounge.

The lounge had much the same on offer as the London lounge. I was able to have a quick drink before being called down to the train. On my way out of the lounge I noticed Pierce Brosnan was in there.

I made my way to my carriage and was welcomed on board again at the door.

Eurostar Train No. 9051 Paris Nord - London Seat 21 Coach 12
Departure time: 18:13

On board I stowed my bags and settled into my seat with camera, ipod and note book.
We pulled out at 18:14 and almost immediately the champagne / drinks run was done.
I had to have champagne again of course.
Dinner tonight was a salad, a choice of Chicken with Bulgur Wheat or Salmon with Rice. On the tray there was also some cheese and a dessert of a chocolate caramel tart. The food was nice, but not quite as tasty as on the way out.

I waived goodbye to France as we headed the chunnel at 19:39. We emerged in the UK at 19:59 (18:59 UK time) and proceeded to Ebbsfleet where this train made a short stop at 19:17. After a few minutes we were on our way again and soon enough were pulling into St Pancras at 19:34.
I made my way out and walked straight onto a tube that would have me home in 20 minutes and wondering just how many glasses of champagne did I drink in the last 48 hours?

This trip. Definitely a passion.

Next up another Bits and Bobs over the May long weekend.

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