The second half of the instalment is now a little out-dated,
but better late than never….
Playing the part of keen year-abroad-er during my holidays
meant my voyage touristique did not
end on the TGV back to Mulhouse. Instead, after joining Sophie at the Jardins du Luxembourg (a pretty
impressive meeting point…such is life in Paris) we stepped aboard a train east,
direction Reims. It must be admitted that our choice of destination was not
exactly based on long held projects to visit the region, but more the result of
picking somewhere on the map that would be a reasonable distance to travel.
However, we rapidly realised that our choix
au hasard was well made. Not only did
the region of Champagne offer a welcome step down from the intensity of Paris that
us Paysans at times find overwhelming
(the tram system proved much more to my liking that the Parisien metro), Reims
is not without its share of guidebook highlights. . Au contraire, we found more than enough to keep us entertained.
We browsed museums and galleries at random… some of which we
would give higher ratings than others…. enjoying being able to wander and not
worry whether it was worth a visit, as after-all our student status got us free
entry (France 1: England :0). We used our meandering cultural visits also to
exchange our parallel experiences of life as The Language Assistant in two
similar but distant small French towns. I was once again confronted by the
surreal experience of walking around another new French town, immersed in the language
yet strangely distanced by the company of a friend, conversations of ‘home’,
and realising I wasn’t returning ‘back’ to Birmingham, or Bristol, but Alsace.
Safe to say I spend a lot of time in France feeling rather confused.
My musing was however luckily interspersed with a more
concrete activity, of course being that of tasting the regional beverage. One cannot go to Champagne without having a
flute or four. Feeling ultra cultured
and sophisticated, we booked ourselves onto cave tours, making sure to ask for
those conducted in French. The names “Moet” and “Pommery” didn’t mean much for
this amateur (my approach to wine is more “not-too-dry-white-s’il vous plait”
than connoisseur) and truth be told still don’t. And it goes without saying
that we were were the youngest and least sophisticated looking on the tours. We
enjoyed playing the game “who will buy a bottle at the end”, it being obvious
to all that the only champagne consumed by the keen English students would be
that given to us for free (Degustation being
the final stage of any worthy cave visit). This lack of expertise (and money)
did not stop us making the most of our cultural experience, and I left Reims
satisfied that I had not only tasted very nice champagne, but could also now
explain the stages of its production (in French).
And my inner language geek that is slowly but surely making
herself known was a little too excited about noting all the new and useful (?)
champagne- vocabulary afforded by what was an enjoyable and illuminating séjour in Reims.
Santé!
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