France Just For You is constantly looking to offer the best experience to our travelers. One element of this includes adding new regions to our tours. To that end, Emilie and I hit the roads in October to visit two areas of France that we will shortly be including in our tours: the Champagne region and Verdun.

Emilie went to university in Reims, the capital of Champagne, and I visited both areas some years ago. But we both felt we needed to update and expand our knowledge of the history, architecture, gastronomy, etc. of these regions. Plus, it is important to us to know all the B&B and boutique hotel owners we work with and to see each room. We also spend time with the guides we work with, visit the places we suggest to our travelers, and eat in the restaurants we recommend.

 

Reims & The Champagne Region

 

The City of Reims

The journey began early Monday morning as we headed across France. Our destination was Reims and the surrounding vineyards for two days of intense prospecting. We visited and slept in several B&Bs and boutique hotels.

We like to give our travelers the experience of staying in charming and quaint old-stone buildings. However, this is a challenge in this region, as much was destroyed during the fighting in the successive world wars. Thus, the old-world atmosphere we find in other parts of France does not exist here. Most importantly though, the warm welcomes we received at the accommodations we stayed in more than made up for the lack of aged stones, and we picked some great places that we are excited to share with our travelers.

 

Hautvillers churche dom perignon

 

Which famous person associated with Champagne is buried here?

Hint: it starts with Dom. - 
© Laura Crotet

 

Champagne Wine Tasting

We also tested some wine guides and brushed up on our Champagne knowledge. From the famous houses that line the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, to the small family-run winery, we allowed ourselves to indulge in the bubbly and tour the installations. And now we have a nice list of addresses that we can recommend to our travelers that have an interest in champagne. And like, who doesn’t have an interest in champagne, am I right?!

 

Emilie tasting Champagne

 

Emilie hard at work in Champagne - © Laura Crotet

 

We also scouted out some lesser-known and unique sites, some even related to when the whole Champagne area was under the sea! But we will keep these under wraps for our travelers.

 

The Verdun Area - World War I

On Wednesday, we pushed further east to the Verdun region, in the department of the Meuse. This area is the site of some major WWI battles, especially the American sites of the Argonne offensive at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon and the Saint Mihiel Salient south of Verdun, and of course the devastating Battle of Verdun for the French.

 

douaumont ossuary

 

The Ossuaire at Douaumont, near Verdun - ©Emilie Thyebaut

Guided Tour to the World War 1 Sites near Verdun

We had a great guide that took us to the sites and explained how everything happened, bringing this part of history alive for us. We were even lucky enough to meet the current superintendent of the Argonne sites, Bruce Malone. The day was a moving and humbling experience, and it has inspired us to develop a new Memory Tour that will cover the WWI and WWII sites in this area, as well as the North of France and of course Normandy. You will be able to discover this new tour soon on our website.

 

Laura at Romagne Sous Montfaucon

 

Bruce Malone, Laura and our guide at Montfaucon - © Emilie Thyebaut

 Vedun town deserves a visit

The town of Verdun itself is a lively town, with a beautiful cathedral and the people there were so kind and sharing – a nice balance to the heavy historical context of the area.

wine tasting

 

Who knew about wine from the Meuse valley? - © Emilie Thyebaut

Lots of history in Verdun-Meuse-Lorraine region

Because I am a history buff, I was also very excited to see the places where the royal family, a.k.a Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, tried to flee from France in 1791 during the Revolution, but were stopped and bought back to Paris to face their sorry destiny.

Joan of Arc also came from these parts and was fully armored by the town of Vaucouleurs before heading to Chinon to meet her future king.

This stuff is like geeky history Comicon to me! So of course I will soon be writing a blog piece, tracing Joan of Arc from her start in the Lorraine region, to the Loire Valley, and then *spoiler alert* her demise in Rouen.

 

Back to the Loire Valley

On Friday afternoon, we headed back home, pleased with our week of prospecting and very excited to begin planning great trips for our travelers in these two rich and interesting areas.

So check back soon - we will be happy to plan a self-drive itinerary that includes Champagne and Verdun. Contact us to start planning!

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

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Lucelle
I was amazed when I came across the website that ALL the reviews were excellent. From the moment I started dealing with Emilie I received amazing service in planning our wonderful trip to France. I will not repeat all the details that are in the previous posts but highlight some of the exceptional service that I received. The booking of the …
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Our trip to Paris, Normandy and the Lore Valley could not have been more enjoyable thanks to all the personalized attention that Emilie gave our requests! She even delivered on the perfect weather we asked for! All of the accommodations were very comfortable and the hosts were so friendly, helpful, and fluent in English. Although I am not usually a …
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Planning our trip via France Just For You was an amazing experience from beginning to end! Emilie's professionalism, attention to detail, thorough and thoughtful communication, and expertise made our recent trip to France one of the smoothest and most enjoyable we've ever experienced. France Just For You truly cares about the individual needs …
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My husband and I used Emilie from France Just For You to plan a special trip for our anniversary. We loved the fact that our trip had structure, but at the same time, we had freedom to explore as we wished. We also loved the fact that the trip included guided tours, but we were not tied to a tour group as such. Emilie planned our trip according to …
Robert
From Bordeaux, Medoc wineries, Basque country of France and Spain, Carcassone, Dordogne, pre-historic caves, beautiful medieval towns and villages, switch-back mountain roads, sunshine, truffles, food & wine and gracious b&b hosts to final flight home, this was the trip of a lifetime! We drove over 3,200 kms with the help of our included gps and …