Return to Champagne

This past week saw the arrival of my girlfriends from college. After a few cancelled flights and lost luggage, Amanda, Molly and Nicole were prepared to take Europe by storm. Their itinerary was a harrowing one for one week -- Brussels, Paris, Champagne and the coup d'etat, a road trip from Brussels to Munich to experience the one and only Oktoberfest.

As I only have so many vacation days left, my plan was to see the girls off on their day trips to Paris and Champagne and then join them for Oktoberfest. But who am I kidding? I may be able to resist another trip to Paris, but if you dangle Champagne in front of me, my will power collapses. On Wednesday morning, we set off for Champagne to tour a couple of champagne houses and most importantly for me, purchase more bottles from the petit maisons of the region to experience all Champagne has to offer.

Me, Nicole, Amanda and Molly sampling the goods at Pommery

We didn't get on the road as early as expected (a combination of jet lag and wine tasting that warranted extra sleep) so we only had the chance to visit one champagne house -- Pommery. While I am a big fan of Pommery (especially their Bland de Noir), the tour can best be described as odd. Apparently, Madame Pommery was quite the art enthusiast. Therefore, they've turned the cellars into an extensive modern art exhibit. Pommery = short on detailed information about the champagne-making process, long on progressive, interactive art pieces. If the tour represented Madame Pommery's life, I can't help but believe it was pretty idyllic.

164 steps to the bottom of the cave. Good thing they only gave us one glass of champagne prior to the tour.

So we toured Pommery, visited the Cathedral at Reims (see my previous post on Champagne for pics), and did a little champagne shopping. I should be able to host a few nice champagne tastings in the coming months.

When leaving Champagne, buckle up for safety! No drink driving allowed!

I'm still alive ... Brussels hasn't done me in yet

A month? Really? It has been a month since my last post? Apologies to those of you who've been following Mogo A Go-Go. Things have been hectic here in cold, rainy northern Europe this September, with lots of visits from family and friends from the States and my general dedication to having as much fun as possible while I'm here. I've been here almost 4 months. Yikes! Only two more to go ...




So where did we leave off? After meeting Mom and Dad in Paris the first weekend of September, I got to host them here in Brussels the following weekend. We had surprisingly good weather (most of the time) for their visit. We did the hop-on, hop-off bus tour of Brussels, visited the medival wonderland of Bruges, and had some really delicious meals everywhere we went. For those of you who've seen In Bruges ... yes, I climbed to the top of the tower in Bruges' town square and lived to tell the tale. Fortunately for me, there were no British gangsters trying to kill each other on the very narrow, very winding staircase up the tower. [Note to those you you haven't seen In Bruges: Put it in your Netflix queue tout de suite. Highly entertaining flick and one of Ralph Fiennes most surprising roles.] Anyways, it was awesome to have my parents come visit and cool to know that they've now gotten to visit Europe!



One of the highlights of September in Belgium is that muscles are now in season. I'm eating them as often as possible. And yes, they're way better here than they are in the U.S. Of course, I am looking forward to re-testing the muscles at Brasserie Beck once I'm back in D.C.

My lovely pot of muscles serves as both dinner and a refreshing steam.