0800: Croissants at Boulangerie Pâtisserie Paintagruélique. This highly rated pâtisserie has croissants ordinaires and croissants aux beurre. The difference? Margarine in the former, butter in the latter. I think the ordinaires have a slightly better crispy outside/flaky inside contrast while the au beurre taste more buttery, which is delicious.
1000: Tour the cathedral. The history is very impressive. Heavily damaged in WWI, there are newer stained glass by Chagall and other more contemporary artists. At the same time, there is stained glass from the 13th century in the West nave. This beautiful Gothic cathedral is well worth your time for a visit.
1200: Lunch! Chèvre et Menthe has a super homey feel with the wood paneling and old-school plates. This charm makes you feel as if you are the kitchen of a person who is an excellent French cuisine chef and that’s exactly what you get. Delicious food, reasonable menu du jour, and a great wine-by-the-glass where I recommend just trusting them to pair what’s open to what you’ve ordered. I went here after a more highly rated (on the tourist sites) was full and it was a total win! They do speak English, but I navigated my way through lunch with French, which was a lot of fun (unless you’re a French grammar police, of which there were none!)
1400: Veuve Clicqout tasting. The cave is in a former chalk mine, which makes the size and grandeur absolutely breathtaking. The tour is super interesting and the tasting in the cave is beautiful. It may be “commercial,” but it is so well done and the caves so amazing that I consider this a must-do.
1700: More champagne tasting at Trésors de Champagne. They feature tastings from local, smaller producers which is a fun experience. They have a regular menu where you pick three from six options, or the premier where three options are pre-selected. The atmosphere is quite nice and the champagnes are delicious. It’s a way to get the small producer tasting without needing to leave the city.
1900: Dinner. Restaurant La Fontaine comes highly recommended but make reservations in advance. Even if the restaurant seems empty, the tables may all be reserved since smaller restaurants seem to stagger the diners as not to overwhelm the kitchens.
2100: Head to the hotel while enjoying the beautiful streets and architecture. This town is so beautiful that’s it’s worth the overnight. Bonus: it’s less expensive to stay outside of Paris rather than traveling to Reims for the day trip alone.
This is a part of France I have not been to, but wow, so beautiful! I love the history of the cathedral, even though it’s sad about the bombings. We went to the Joan of Arc church in Rouen, and it is a new church, built in the 1970s, but the stained glass windows were rescued from a much older church that was destroyed in WWII I think. Beautiful art work, right? And I love Chagall. We saw the museum in Nice, truly amazing work.
Lovely! I want a croissant now. Either one! LOL
Why not both?! 🙂
Oh give me both croissants so I can do a taste test. I’ll leave the champagne to you. Or maybe I would like a sip.
Yes, exactly! I’m a huge fan of compare/contrast, especially with delicious pastries.