#chapagne

aesthetic requests

Is this how you roll?

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New song, new song. Hurrah for whoever taped this.

Duval Leroy

But first..... Champagne 🥂 #chapagne #bubbles #agirlloves #butfirst #champagneandshopping https://www.instagram.com/p/CPOcQ_2J8TO/?utm_medium=tumblr

Wowee! What an amazing two weeks I have had, plenty of travelling in gorgeous weather, meeting up with friends and being contacted by friends and family that I hadn’t heard from in years!! So after a busy birthday week, it was time to relax (haha) and enjoy a little jaunt away to Reims. I set off early in the car and was at the railway station a good hour before the train was due, well I did have tickets to buy, which was my first mistake……..should have been bought on-line to benefit from the promo price (how had I forgotten that?). Second mistake (which could have proved costly) was I forgot to get the ticket stamped before boarding the train. However, the conductor looked at me and just let it go, when it was a conductress (last year) she gave me a good dressing down and a fine! When I arrived in Reims, I guess I looked like the “country bumpkin” arriving in the City. I was turning every which way, to try and bearings for the direction I needed to head in. Eventually, I went and sat in a park, unpacked my picnic and sat and enjoyed my lunch in the sunshine. I looked over my shoulder and saw a pedestrianised street and guessed that was where I wanted to be. The street was full of cafes, bars and restaurants which were heaving and I trundled down in search of my hotel. At the first fountain, I turned right and there was my hotel! How central was I (well to food, which always plays an important part in my holidays). I checked in, went up to my room, and sorry to say had a power nap! Then I got washed and changed and headed out to explore. My exploration took me past the department stores and numerous shops (fortunately shopping is not really my thing) I did have a look inside “Galeries Lafayette” well the ground floor and then left. I wandered past the Musee des Beaux Arts and found myself at the Cathedral where I spent a lovely time admiring the architecture, the beautiful stained glass windows inside and the other thing that caught my eye was the workman on scaffolding about 100 feet up!! I wandered back by a totally different route and had to return to the hotel as my feet were killing me. About 7pm I went out to find somewhere to eat, not difficult in a street given over to restaurants etc but a lot of places had a huge part of their menu given over to BURGERS!!!! not my favourite. Anyway I found A Casa Mia, and they had something which did appeal to me, goats cheese tart with tomato and basil. It was lovely and I had sorbet for dessert. After breakfast in my hotel the following day, I headed off in search of the Porte Mars and the Musee de la Reddition. The Porte Mars is at the end of the most wonder gardens with lots of seating areas. I then made my way to the Musee wanting to see where the Germans signed the surrender in 1945. Unfortunately, the doors were locked and on my second attempt to “break in” a man appeared and said that they were closed and would re-open the following day. That was the day I was heading home so to say I was a little disappointed is an understatement. Anyway I went back to the gardens and sat and read my book, until my tummy told me to look for food. There are so many little arcades with lots of shops and I decided to wander through a couple of those, to get out of the sun (it was 34c). In one arcade, I spotted a hairdressers and decided to have my hair trimmed, well it’s something different to do when you are away. I returned to the hotel for a little “power nap” and then got dressed to go out and eat. Back to the same restaurant where I had chicken in mushroom sauce with rice followed by tarte aux citrons (my favourite). I have to admit that the whole experience of Reims was absolutely amazing, I felt so safe, the place had a real “buzz” to it, I suppose because the gorgeous weather brought so many people out onto the streets, I was very sad to leave, but one thing is for sure I will return. My journey back was uneventful which was very good as I was just on a high from the amazing time I had had. When I got home I just flopped into my chair to relax and unwind. While I had been away, Jeannette (another friend) had phoned me to see if I wanted to go to the book club with her. I returned her call and we arranged to meet at the “bar” on Saturday. Marie-Therese was coming for coffee and gateau as usual on Thursday and I had arranged for Anie to come for tea and gateau on Friday, so my busy time continued. I had asked Anie to come at 4pm but it was 5.15pm before she arrived as she had fallen asleep – well at least she still turned up. I was up early on Friday as I was at the physiotherapist, I had thought that an hour would see my treatment finished but that was not to be and so instead of going for coffee at the bar I just headed home as I had “knitting with refugees” in the afternoon, only one lady arrived but it was nice as she doesn’t speak any English so we had to converse in French (no matter how badly), good for her and me. I hadn’t had time to go shopping so that was top of the list for Saturday morning, I had just placed the shopping on the conveyor belt when my phone rang, it said it was my cousin’s husband…….I went cold…...I answered the phone and it was my cousin on the other end, my mind raced…...anyway it turned out that a post I had made on social media about being sad to go home as I loved Reims, implied to them that I was in fact returning to the UK and she wondered if everything was OK with me. I said I would return her call later that morning and when we spoke again it was hard to believe that we hadn’t spoken since my mothers’ funeral over 9 years ago. I knew I was late with my rendezvous with Jeannette but after the phone call with my cousin, I took off to the bar. I asked Christophe, had she been in, No! I had a coffee, read the paper and then left. I returned home and then got a call from Jeannette saying she had forgotten. I had a really lovely video call with my gorgeous granddaughter, my “props” this time were a model of a robin and a monkey’s head (screen cleaner). She loved the robin and also the monkey. It was great because not only did I get to speak to “The Daddy” but “The Mummy” was there so we had a great conversation. “The Graduate” has his re-sit this coming Tuesday (fingers crossed) and as he has a birthday coming up very soon he has set that date for his dissertation to be submitted. Then it is the dreaded looking for work business not easy for anyone in the current climate. I guess that my friends from Newcastle will be preparing for another year at University, its a difficult time for students too, do they move up to the University City or do they stay at home and have their lectures on-line. Who knows what is best at this time? Well, lovely people, I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my little holiday. I will be back next week, God willing. Have a great week until then…..

#chapagne #comemoração #umdomingoqualquer #chapagnecombinacomtudo #Paraty (em Marina Farol de Paraty)