Paris under water

As you have probably read in the news, Paris is experiencing its worst flooding in 30 years. France's rainfall levels in May were the highest since 1873 and while the Seine maybe dropping, the forecast for the week is still rain, rain and more rain.

While you can probably find crazier pictures online, I snapped a couple on my way out on Thursday. The first one is square de Vert-Galant on Île de la Cité - or what used to be it. At this time of year people are usually hanging out in this square having picnics and enjoying the traffic on the river. 

The other is where a walkway used to be beside one of the boat companies that normally offers tours down the river. Now the boats can't even pass under the bridges!

With that, I am up to date on the blog. Coming up, but probably delayed, will be the Euro Cup, more of Mexico, and Greece - stay tuned!

Roland-Garros

I am sure no one will be surprised that when the opportunity to buy tickets to something arose, I jumped on the opportunity! This time it was for Roland-Garros or more commonly known as the French Open. Aside from the two and half hour rain delay in the middle of the day, I saw the top ranked male and female players in the world so I would consider it a success!

View from the top - well, second level

While the seats seem far,the view was actually pretty good

First up were the women. While Serena Williams beat French player, Kristina Mladenovic, it wasn't an easy win. 

Getting ready to warm up

Warming up

Game on!

This was the match that was interrupted by biblical proportions of rain.

Roland-Garros is not exactly set up for this many people having to wait out the rain so we basically stood under a little roof to try and not get more soaked than we already were. Then it was time to get the court ready for the next match up . . .

Next up, Novak Djokovic vs Aljaz Bedene. Again, it wasn't a runaway for Djokovic but he still managed to find the time to ham it up for the crowd and cameras. The star of the game was the ref who took quite a ribbing from Djokovic throughout the last set.

Getting ready to begin

Now I have gone through the rite of passage that is Roland-Garros so feeling a little more French than before . . .

The beauty of champagne

May is the month of holidays so despite having been busy for three consecutive weekends, I had to spend the next two travelling :) For the first one I went north to eat and drink, and then do that a little more. The next one I was off to Épernay with five friends for some champagne.

The first time I lived in France I lived in Reims, also in champagne, but unfortunately in those days I didn't have the means to enjoy the beverage as often as I liked. I also, surprisingly, never made it to Épernay even though it was only 30 minutes by train. It's a beautiful town and luckily for us, they make visiting the caves super easy. The main road in town is the Avenue de Champagne where you guessed it, you will find the majority of the caves!

Our first stop was Moët et Chandon.

It was the Journée Particulière fort he LVMH group - this is their version of "open doors". It meant the tour was free but there were no tastings. It also meant that they had tours at the Dom Pérignon Abbey in Hautevillers which is not usually open to the public. We headed off in the pouring rain on Sunday to this quaint village to see the abbey. Sadly they offer no tastings but we found a few other caves to make up for it!

Both tours were very informative and I learnt a lot about champagne - the champagne region has a lot of rules, for one. Champagne is made from three types of grapes - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The fermentation process is slightly more complex for champagne and takes a few years which explains the price. Some of the bottles are even turned by hand - 35,000-50,0000 per day. The more expensive bottles, including Dom, is made from the Grand Cru vines. Moët et Chandon owns 50% of these vineyards. Ok, enough of that, moving on to the pictures . . .

The caves of Moët et Chandon which span 28km. The first thing the tour guide said was, don't stray from the group as it could take a while to get out! 

The Dom Pérignon Abbey

Bottles designed in honour of Andy Warhol's request to drink champagne for the millennium

View from the abbey

View from the abbey

A bit more of Épernay. . .

City Hall

It's always important to take advantage of being in the countryside by breathing the unpolluted air and going for a walk to see green instead of concrete and stone. We decided to take a self guided tour to a lookout point which had some stunning views of the vineyards in the area.

 And then we were done for the day!

A little more of Paris

When people visit there are always random pictures I take that don't quite make up a complete post so here are the randoms that had no where to go . . .

This one was taken at Place des Voges right before . . .

 . . .I saw this - Ya, that's Ben Affleck!

Photo from: http://www.examiner.com/article/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-kiss-paris-estranged-couple-tour-city-of-light

I also learned that Galleries Lafayette has a terrace on top (perhaps the last to know this but better late than never as they say) where there are great views of the city on a nice day.

The last day my mom was in town it was Journée de la Victoire so they closed the Champs Élysées from George V to Place de la Concorde. While they stayed at home packing, I headed out for a little stroll.

 

And the day ended with drinks at the Panoramic Bar . . .

A little Loire

We took a one day excursion to the Loire Valley so I didn't take a ton of photos but then maybe I should have because the last time I was there was 1999 and photos were still take with film :)

The tour covered three chateaus, two of which I had seen before. That being said, if you have never been to the Loire you should definitely check them out. The first one was Chambord .The chateau was built originally in 1519 as a way to impress heads of state, François I never intended for it to be a home. It doesn't have much in the way of furnishings but it's an impressive building. It is also surrounded by a huge park (forest) in which we saw some deer and wild boars as we drove up.

Chambord

Leading up to the chateau . . .

Once you enter, there is an impressive double staircase. The two sides don't ever meet.

This is the centre of the two staircases

We climbed the stairs to the highest point which gives you some nice views of the property.

As mentioned, this is one of the chateaus that doesn't have a lot of furnishing - it was after all never supposed to be a permanent home. There were some heaters and of note, salamanders carved in several places. François I was the salamander king. The salamander was a powerful symbol because it was associated with both fire and poison and many people were afraid of it.

Carved salamanders

A few more shots before we head to the next one . . .

We then made our way to Chateau Nitray for some wine tasting and lunch. It was built in the XVIth century to replace an older castle, probably dating back the XIIIth century and is down in typical renaissance style. Today it is owned by a family in which the son-in-law is responsible for the wine making.

Chateau Nitray

During these centuries, one indication of wealth was how many pigeons you were allowed to house on the property. Pigeonniers housed the birds for the landowners to eventually eat. The number of slots you had determined the size of your property and if you lost land, you had to fill in the holes.

Then it was time for lunch, well actually we ate before the tour but the pictures made more sense to me this way :)

And last but not least, we were off to Chenonceau. Chateau Chenonceau which is the most visited of all the chateaus in the Loire and I think all the people were there that day! I had already seen this one as well so skipped most of the tour and headed for a wine tasting! I did manage to snap a few pics along the way though. I think the entrance way to the chateau has changed since I was last there or I had zero recollection of it. It's a nice little stroll to get there . . .

And la pièce de résistance!

Before heading for a drink, we did try to see some of the inside. We made it through 3 rooms and then gave up.

This is why we gave up . . .

Then the tasting!

If there is a next time, I hope to check out some of the many other chateaus in the Loire region. . .