Imagine this, pink roads. I mean it, pink roads. Not your bog standard black tar roads, but nice Barbie pink roads. How can you not love a place that has pink roads AND champagne? If you were just passing through the department of Aube and you saw a blonde woman next to a magnificent chateau photographing not said beauty but the road, well that was me.

As we passed the sign that said Department l’Aube, the roads turned to pink. My very smart hubby says that this is because they use pink stones in the tar mix. But I (the much smarter blonde) think it’s because of the bubbles in pink champagne. They make the roads to match the pink bubbly and to attract Barbie blondes to the area to keep everyone happy. Understandably sensible.

I have only one photo of the many wonderful chateaus we passed, therefore many road photos… The wealth that champagne has brought is not to be missed. There are chateaus as big as villages on every turn. One I shall have to return to is in Montmort-Lucy. I have never seen anything as magnificent as this chateau / palace. Unfortunately it was rush hour traffic and I was unable to take photos (also run out of battery due to pink road photos…), so I found some on-line for you. www.montmart.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChateauDeMonmort.jpg

This is what they portray in fairy books. All this time I thought those castles were make-believe, but they exist in (pink) Champagne. I looked at loads of photos of the chateau online, and they are beautiful, but it looked even better as we drove by. Was I blinded by all the pink or are there 2 such beauties in this village? Watch this space.

Upon entering the Champagne-Ardenne region first Aube then Marme, I was surprised to see kilometer upon kilometer of pink roads…okay, I’ll give it a rest. What we saw was kilometers of wheat and a massive nuclear power station visible for miles and miles due to the very flat landscape. Eventually we did pass the champagne hills (the grapes are mostly grown on slopes in the Marme dept.) and they too covered a large area, but the majority of the Champagne area is of agricultural nature. Very disappointing for this dedicated bubbly drinker. Oh yes, and I mean the bubbly champagne too…

6 armed monsters were very actively spraying all the hills and dales with poison – now I know why I get such a headache after 2 bottles of champagne! Still, it is an absolutely beautiful area and we will certainly visit again. Only this time I will take less road photos and more of all things beautiful of which there are plenty. And our travels are not yet over! I have left my poor father to water an acre of vegetables and take care of a farmyard of animals while hubby and I travel through France and Germany, road spotting, sightseeing, wedding visiting, and a myriad of other interesting things. So don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back.