Day 23: Paris - Epernay day trip

Despite threats of more strikes today over the raising of the pension age in France, it thankfully didn't have any impact on my little adventure outside of Paris to the town of Epernay. I jumped on the metro at Pyramides and arrived at Gare de l'Est station just after 8:00am which gave me enough time to purchase my ticket for the 8:35am train, grab a traditional Parisian breakfast of pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate for the journey. Yummm..

As the train made its way from Paris it was quite foggy and it really only cleared just before we arrived in Eperney. All up the journey took just over an hour and a quarter, so once I arrived I wandered the streets.

After about 5 minutes I came to the Avenue de Champagne which is the home of the Moët & Chandon cellars. This was one of my must do's on this trip, so before I left home I'd pre-booked an English speaking tour of the Cellars at 10:30am.

The tour was quite informative and we learnt all about the process used to produce the champagne.  It started off with a bit of weird video (in my opinion anyway) that compared the process of making champagne to a painting.   After this we decended into the cellars which are made up of over 28km of historic tunnels.

"Only... 20,817 bottle in this cellar..."

I'd purchased the “Imperial tour” which meant I was able to sample 1 flute of Moët Imperial and 1 flute of Rosé Imperial when we got to the tasting room at the end of the tour. I spent a bit of time in the gift store – because like any good tourist attraction, the gift store is what it's all about, and yes, I did purchase a few things, including a bottle...

Given the infrequency of trains, I caught the 12:50pm train to return to Paris. Sadly I didn't get to explore too much more of Epernay, or the other cellers – maybe next time.

When I got to Paris, not wanting to carry my pruchases around with me, I returned to my hotel.  And I also took the opportunity to put my bottle of Moet in the fridge! It was then time for lunch before exploring the shopping institution that is Galleries Lafayette. That place is huge... Unlike my previous visit which was really quick, this time I was able to explore at a much more leisurely pace, and found one of the best views of Paris up on the 7th floor terrace.

It was while I was here at Galleries Lafayette that I lost all respect for Jimmy Choo. Now as a person who loves her shoes (although truth be told I don't actually own any of his shoes), this is probably sounding quite shocking...  But he has teamed up with UGG... Yes, I'm not kidding you, UGG!!!! I mean really...

After leaving the madness of Galleries Lafayette, I headed back to the hotel to get ready for tonight's entertainment. It was time for me to soak up some true culture, so tonight ladies and gentlemen, I attended “Paquita” a ballet at the Opera Garnier.   According to Wikipedia, "The plot takes place in Spain during the occupation of Napoleon's army. The heroine is the young Gypsy girl, Paquita. Unbeknownst to Paquita, she is really of noble birth, having been abducted by Gypsies when she was an infant. She saves the life of a young French officer, Lucien d'Hervilly, who is the target of a Spanish governor who desires to have him killed by Iñigo, a gypsy chief. By way of a medallion she discovers that she is of noble birth, being in fact the cousin of Lucien. As such, she and the Officer are able to wed."

I'd never attended a ballet before, so to do so in such an amazing building was, I think, a great way to do get my first introduction. After the show concluded, I wandered back down the Avenue d'le Opera to my hotel.

Once I got home it was time for my 'rock star' moment. I spent my second last night in Paris drinking Moet and eating pringles. I'm so bad*ss...

My lame attempt at humour...