Europe 2023 : 9 days in the South of France

Monday 4 to Tuesday 12 September 

We left Paris with Tommy and Mandy on Monday 4th September and drove down to Meursault, south of Lyon in the Pouilly - Fuisse wine region of France.

I have chosen some of our favourite places in France for the newbie campervanners to enjoy. We do love campsites that are walking distance into town. Even in touristy places most day trippers leave by late afternoon and you get to stroll around and enjoy the place at leisure. Avignon on Tuesday and Wednesday.

St. Remy on Thursday and Friday. I was so blessed with all the friends that joined us here for my birthday party. 

Saturday and Sunday - our RWC Springbok supporters crowd - 15 of us in 3 campers and 3 cars - moved on to Martique on the Mediterranean coast; south of Marsielles. We bumped into RWC fans everywhere we went. All the campsites have big-screen TVs in their bar/restaurant areas and most campers are decorated with team flags. I had prearranged 4 taxis to take us all into Marseilles for the game on Sunday 10th in time to enjoy prematch festivities. The Springboks beat Scotland! 

On Monday and Tuesday we were all in Carcassone. 

We're getting in our steps each day with lots of walking. We're enjoying cooking some meals ourselves, drinking too much local wine and having a lekker camping kuier South African style. Baguettes, croissants, chacuterie and the best cheeses in the world for breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper and even picnics at roadside  "Aires" on our travel days.

Campsites for future reference: 

Mersault - Huttopia Mersault

Avignon - Camping Bagatelle

St. Remy - Camping Pegomas

Martique - Camping Pascalounet

Carcasonne - Camping de la Cite

Countdown to 60..Bubbly Party No. 59

Saturday 2 September..Au Virage Lepic, Montmarte, Paris..delicious Champagne, The Final Countdown, Mandy's birthday, my favourite Parisienne restaurant...

EUROPE 2023 : Paris Round 1

 Thursday 31 August to Sunday 3 September

Thursday

We love Paris.. back at Camping de Paris and I can't believe our last visit was 5 years ago! Uber has become our favourite mode of transport. Off to The Pompidou for a dose of modern art.

Sitting at a street cafe watching the world go by.

Strolling around Marais.

Dinner at Les Bourgesses and the owners recognize Neil from previous visits and wanted his photo. 

Friday

A slow start and back to Marais for more wandering. Coffee with a view.

  Wine Cave Septime is super cool and serves lots of amazing natural wines by the glass. Our only complaint was the place was filled with tourists. Trendy, instagram-posting tourists but everyone spoke English!

Le Calbar is a great cocktail space..delicious drinks and the waiters wear sleeping shorts with shirts and bowties! Cute!

We met Ingrid and Gavin here and went off to dinner at another old favourtie of ours,  Le Encrier. The food was nice but we were sad to discover new owners and a rather less engaging waitstaff than we remember.

We almost snuck off to bed but hopped in an Uber to 38 Riv, a hole in the wall jazz club where the late jam session only starts after midnight. Some of the best serious jazz we've heard in years. 

Saturday

Obviously a slow start after a late night. 

We enjoyed the Paris Museum of Modern Art and another street cafe with coffee and tarte tatin. 

We popped back to the Campsite to meet Tommy and Mandy and dash back with them to Montmarte to our favourite Parisienne bistrot, Au Virage Lepic.

Sunday

On the first Sunday of each month, all museums in Paris are free. Luckily, I got timed tickets for Musee D' Orsay because it was very busy. It is my favourite museum in Paris.

More wandering; this time in St. Germain. We bought food and wine at L' Grande Epicerie de Paris to have back at the campsite.

Europe 2023 : Finally in France - Champagne!

Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 August

On Monday we did a long drive through Holland and Belguim and finally into France.  We spent the night in the Ardennes. On Tuesday we went to the Leclerc in Riems and the quality and selection of food is just amazing. France has the best supermarkets in the world by far! Aisles and aisles of cheeses and deli and meat and fish and wines and and and.. and happy shoppers..I could live in France and just shop and cook and eat and drink! 

We camped for 2 nights in Epernay in the heart of the Champagne region. Some champagne houses are walking distance from the campsite. We did a lovely tasting at Collard-Picard.

Wine tourism hasn't always been a priority here but slowly more and more estates are opening up for visits and tasting. Sadly most of the restaurants in town are not up to scratch and the few decent places were fully booked. 

The campsite organises morning and evening tours to different wineries and so on Wednesday morning we joined in for a tasting at Xavier Leconte. There are over 370 Champagne houses in the region; that's a lot of bubbly I don't know but I can't say I've ever tasted one I don't like.

Countdown to 60..Bubbly Party No.58..

 Saturday 26 August.. at Christiane and Arjen's place in Schoorl, Netherlands... from neighbours in Kim Yam Rd ( 2003) to forever friends ( 2023 )...