S. Worthen | Weblog

From first to last, it was sumptuous to be cosseted with quality and the best service of last month's trip to the continent. The Gourmet's Choice package at the Château de Courcelles-sur-Vesle included everything from a welcome cake awaiting us in our half-timbered suite to a dinner of endless delight. To the last, they made us welcome, with freshly-baked cookies and bottles of water for the road on departure. It was easily the best hotel hotel of the trip, and not even the most expensive at that. (The other hotel which was a splash-out was a disappointment after this one.) Best of all, dinner lived up to the expectations set by the rest of the place.

( Dinner... )

The meal wasn't perfect, but it was very, very fine, with excellent service, a comfortable pace, pleasant ambiance, generally very good food, and a little too much of it. It had a spark of fun and liveliness to it with made up for its more mundane moments; most of the dishes were excellent. Suddenly, it didn't seem so inopportune that the hotel room was out in the converted stables - it provided a brief bit of a walk through cool air for digestion, and for appreciation of a lovely, lovely setting.