Guess what? We lay in again! Haha it’s got to be the comfy bed this time around. I mean fancy hotel, big bed, overkill of bedding and pillows. Yeah, that’s why. Once we had sorted it packed up we headed downstairs for breakfast in the same restaurant as last nights dinner. This time around however, the light was shining through and we had views over the vineyards below. I can only imagine the colours during autumn or the level of activity in summer with all the local workers and volunteers harvesting the grapes 🍇.
The breakfast was a buffet style set up of cereals, cakes, meats and cheeses but there was also a hot section of the useful bacon, eggs, mushrooms etc. We made a few trips back and forth while enjoying the external views of the farms but also from time to time staring at this young family who had the most adorable little baby ever. She wasn’t a day over 6 months but had such a friendly, inquisitive and good tempered aura about her. Those parents are doing it right. Kudos!
After breakfast we finished packing and then checked out of LOISIUM. Hopefully we can come back one day in the summer and enjoy the pool outside, do some runs and cycle tours and get a tan too. We played some Tetris again in the car with the luggage and set off on the windy roads down to a nearby town called Tours-sur-Marne for our final champagne tasting of the French leg. The house… Lamiable (pronounced Lam-eab-leh). It’s a smaller family run business located in this Grand Cru village (Grand being the highest honour) and owned by Jean Pierre and Ophélie. Ophélie’s grandfather, Pierre Lamiable, planted his first vine in the early 1950s at a place called “Les Vignes des Meslaines” and the first pages of this champagne house were written.
We started off the tasting with Jean Pierre by trying 3 of their non vintages (see left side of the picture below) and then moved onto 2 of their vintages (ticks on the right). Surprising their Graine d’Etoiles which contains 0g/l , meaning 0 grams of sugar per litre, was really tasty.
Being a bit of a sweet tooth I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it but the fruitiness from the Pinot noir and that freshness and elegance of the Chardonnay really created a fizzy delight. We did however decide to rather buy some of the Terre as it’s their top seller and then we also bought two bottles of the excellent vintage, Héliades, which is an 80% Chardonnay Blend and 100% from Tours-sur-Marne and only one farm. Afterwards he kindly showed us to their underground cellars before the grounds. This isn’t part of the tasting experience but Ash asked and he kindly obliged. They sell about 80,000 bottles of champagne at Lamiable per year and house 210,000 in their chalk cellars. Compare this to the 27,000,000 that Taittinger have… wow!But, like Taittinger, they only do certain vintages by hand whereas the rest as overseen by machinery on site.
We said cheers to Jean Pierre and set off on the long 3.5hr drive to Bruges, Belgium. Just as a side note moms, the tastings were really small so it wasn’t enough to intoxicate us for the journey. Don’t worry. I drove the first 2.5hrs before switching with Ash so that I could blog a bit and she could drive. Their motorways are incredible in France with max speed at 130km/h and the roads really quiet over this time.
Once in Bruges we checked into our hotel for the next two nights, Hotel Biskajer, and then had to take the car to an underground parking a km away. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned in various parts of the old town and their isn’t a lot of parking. The parking you do find is €15 for 4 hours so really expensive and hence why everyone parks in the underground bays scattered around the city.
We took a walk into the city to Grote Markt (Market Square) where they had a Christmas market on with various food stalls all around and spaces for chilling and chatting. There were definitely a lot more English speakers around as the conversations and murmurs were catching my ears more. The square is surrounded by stunning buildings, one of which is the famous, towering, Belfry of Bruges. Ash ordered us some Brugse Zot Blond beers and I found a cheese raclette store which raved my attention. Who doesn’t want strands of melted cheese on baguette when the temperatures are touching zero. They served it with rocket, some gherkins and pickled small onions which may sound strange but it was really good.
We hung around a bit longer before detouring into a Carrefour to get some snacks and water on the way home. We settled into a movie in our lovely warm hotel room and turned out the lights on another beautiful European road trip day. Tomorrow, it’s a full day of Bruge and we can’t wait to explore some of these building streets.
KEEP RIGHT PASS LEFT 