NAMES

What's in a name? Well, often there's lots of information and sometimes none. While walking through Laon recently we came across this coffee shop and was I enticed to go in?

Arsenic and old lace coffee shop in Laon

The next shop wasn't much better!

Shop in Laon

Why would you call a shop 'mice in the attic' unless lots of things had been nibbled! I didn't want to risk it in case they came down from the attic!

MARCHÉ AUX TRUFFES D'AUTOMNE

It's that time of the year in Champagne-Ardenne when there are a rash of markets, food, wine, champagne and Christmas. We were intrigued to see a truffle market advertised. So off we went. The market was in the cloisters of an old Abbey now a regional museum. The market was organised by the venerable 'L'Association Marnaise des Producteurs de Truffes'. Not to be crossed! Serious stuff this truffle hunting.

There they are at a mere €450/kg.

As well as a lot of discussion, choosing and smelling, the truffles were being bought in good amounts. Apparently a few years ago they had an exceptional regional harvest unearthing ~150 tonnes! That's a lot of truffles.

Margaret merging in as a local Reims resident.

In addition to the truffles there were numerous foods containing truffle and a few local delicacies such as Lentils de Champagne, Saffron and Boudin Blanc (White pudding) set in jelly. The lentils are excellent, the Boudin Blanc, well the less said the better.

Yes we did have the 'démonstration de chiens truffiers'.

The dog was very good and found all the hidden truffles and returned them without eating any. Obviously it prefered the reward food to the truffle.

L'ECLUSE, CANOEISTS AND ALICE

Recently in Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims we came across this painting of a lock on the canal we are on. This is not what I would like to be presented with when entering a lock. I would definitely leave it until the next locking. 80 tons of Soraya and a bunch of randomly experienced canoeists are not a natural mix.

'L'Eclusée' by Ferdinand Gueldry 1888.

Along with the normal selection of brown paintings of local dignitaries and local scenes there is a small Art Deco section and a Modern Art area. Some of this was surprisingly good for a regional gallery. I was impressed by the piece labelled 'Alice'. She must have been a touch cool though. I actually was reprimanded for taking this photograph and shown a tiny sign indicating the photography was forbidden! I really don't know why, I would have thought any exposure they get about the gallery would be welcome.

'Alice' by Etienne Hajdu 1958.

Still it's back to the Champagne, didn't know there were so many producers and styles. Do we have to try them all. Margaret says YES!

IN THE BACKGROUND

Soraya has been in the news, well in the background to a press photograph in the local Reims newspaper L'Union. On Sunday there was a rowing competition lots of teams, lots of boats, lots of sculling and sweeping teams, 2's, 4's and 8's.

Rowing competition adjacent to Soraya.

Interesting that after all the teams, all the races, all the photographs taken, Soraya is in the photograph. They must have wanted a pretty background.

SATURDAY MORNINGS

Saturday mornings often involve a trip to the local Marché. Most reasonable sized towns have a 'Les Halles', Reims is no different. Halles du Boulingrin is a stunning 1920's very thin arched Art Deco concrete structure recently fully renovated. Enough about the building. The main reason for being there is the great array of food. All the usual fresh produce plus a few more interesting items. A local mushroom stall does beautiful fresh Shiitaké and a range of Pleurote (Oyster mushrooms) including the totally natural pink variety. All very yummy. They are grown in local caves that are 8-12 deg C with 95% humidity. No watering takes place they absorb the moisture from the air.

The very unusual 'Pleurote rose'.

Walking around we came across a stall we had not seen before.....

A fine stall for first thing in the morning, 'Vodka and Caviar'.

That's the way to get you going first thing on a winters morning. It did seem quite popular. Outside I came across a great scooter, Margaret in the front!!! only joking and to my surprise it was a Vespa. Scoots was impressed, from the same stable.

Move over Scoots (not really) a great delivery vehicle.

SORAYA FASHION SHOOT

There was a knock on the wheelhouse door the other day. After the the usual exchange of pleasantries we were asked if Soraya could be used as a 'location' for a fashion photo shoot. Why not! Scoots has been used, now it's Soraya's turn.

One of the many, many shots.

Margaret and the photo team reviewing the shots.

It was difficult to understand exactly why the photographs were being taken. I think for a variety of reasons including a fashion biased book of photographs around Reims. All good fun.

ÉPERNAY AND YES, MORE CHAMPAGNE

We decided to have a jolly in Épernay, the other champagne capital. A quick 23 km train trip from Reims to Épernay, out of the station and you're into Avenue de Champagne. No guesses what you will find in this road. It's actually very pleasant with a lot of the big name champagne houses having a château with degustation and shops. We aimed for Mercier. Not in the top echelons of champagne brands but it does have a very unique tour. We checked in and after a very short introduction and video about the history of Mercier it's into the lift to drop 30+ metres to the cave (cellar) level. It all gets interesting as you hop onto a small train that takes you through some of the 18km of cellars dug specifically for the production and storing of their champagne. Throughout this you see some of the processes and of course plenty of champagne storage.

Margaret's new bike, fully loaded with ........

Once we surfaced it was time for a bit of degustation. I must comment that whilst the trip was interesting we both much preferred the cellars of Taittinger. See blog post 'Champagne 03.10.2014'.

'Now that's what I call a hotel'.

SEGWAY TOUR

In the tourist office we saw a brochure, 'Segway Tours of Reims'. As they say 'In for a penny in for ........' We thought this is not to be missed, even though neither of us have been on a Segway. We made the call and arranged the date and time. As the time dawned we did wonder how difficult they would be to balance and control. Thoughts of running havoc through the tourists in front of the Cathedral came to mind. We arrived and were the only 'interns' that day. A quick demonstration of the technique then it was down to us. I must admit that the first few minutes are very strange, however fortunately, the control movements are very intuitive, slightly akin to skiing. Lean forward to go forward and lean back to, well you can guess. Steering by gently moving the handlebars right or left.

Margaret looking pretty confident after a trip around town.

Both us agreed that after the first few minutes it was great and would both throughly recommend it. The most difficult thing to do is stay still, such as at a road crossing as you tend to rock ever so slightly which causes a forward and backward movement. You really don't want this adjacent to moving traffic or other pedestrians.

Geoff looking a bit ridged during his first trial run.

We were so taken by the Segways I asked how much? The answer €7000 to €10,000 depending on the model. Better get writing to Santa! Oh yes I should say it was a good and informative tour.