O.C. Tour-Goers Enjoy a Bit of Bubbly in France

“Come quickly, I am tasting stars!”

--Dom Perignon

Crystal tulips exploding with some of the priciest stars in champagne awaited the Orange Countians who dined Thursday in Hautvillers, the 7th-Century abbey in Northern France.

No sooner had the happy travelers stepped from their slick tour bus than a trio of French waiters--sporting jaunty black berets and crisp white aprons--began to pour glass after glass of Dom Perignon, the honey-colored bubbly invented in the 17th Century by the monk of the same name.

“Hmmmmmmmm. It taste like moonlight,” said one starry-eyed woman, as she savored a sip.

The private sit-down luncheon inside the cool and shadowy abbey was one of the highlights for the more than 70 visitors on their five-day tour of France, which included excursions to the new Euro Disneyland in Marne-la-Valle, Paris and the champagne country.

Seated at tables spread with floor-length white linen cloths and set with bouquets of salmon roses and purple iris (right out of Vincent van Gogh’s famous painting), guests dined grandly on fare prepared by the white-gloved staff of Moet & Chandon, the champagne vintner whose 18 miles of underground limestone cellars hold 90 million bottles of champagne on any given day and whose headquarters house boasts a chandelier made of crystal champagne glasses.

The fare, which was served up by maids in proper black dresses and dainty lace aprons, included country pate, duck stuffed with foie gras and a deep-fried crepe tulip filled with a medley of red berries and raspberries sorbet.

Not to mention the wines, which included a white Still (Dom Perignon sans the bubbles), a Bouzy red that a Moet & Chandon executive called “the lightest red of Europe” and finally, pink champagne--a delicious blend of the other two.

“I will never be the same,” said Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, wide-eyed over the impeccable service and mouthwatering food. “I don’t know when I have experienced anything more lovely or gracious.”

The private luncheon on Wednesday was almost as grand. Held on the window-wrapped tour boat M. S. Bretagne, the repast--attended by Orange County Chief of Protocol Mary Jones, Anaheim Disneyland President Jack Lindquist and about 70 others--followed a two-hour cruise of the Seine, where guests dined on grilled salmon and the chocolatiest of chocolate cakes (oh, and let us not forget “the welcome aboard” tulip of Kirr, the champagne drink that is turned bright pink by a dash of creme de cassis).

On Wednesday night, after many of the guests had taken quick naps to recover from the activities of the day--tours of Paris, the Louvre and the fashionable shopping districts--guests donned Western kerchiefs and cowboy hats and headed for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at the Festival Disney Entertainment Center.

There in grandstand-style seating amid tables piled with barbecue ribs, chicken and apple cobbler, the crowd joined hundreds of others to watch Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley stage a slice of history right out of the American West.

The farewell party: On Thursday evening, guests left their Cap Cod-style rooms at the Newport Bay Hotel and headed for Club Manhattan in Hotel New York, Euro Disney Resort’s convention facility. (Sidelight: This posh ‘40s-style club was originally dubbed “the Rainbow Room” after its rainbow motif, but the Manhattan club of the same name balked, forcing the Disney folks to change its name).

Here, guests enjoyed a bon voyage party that was the trip’s piece de resistance : dancing and dining in a cushy, sophisticated club where the sky-blue ceiling was pricked with diamond-like stars and the cobalt blue dinner plates sported even more stars. The menu was as French as France itself--crystal clear beef bouillon swimming with minced vegetables, mushroom-stuffed veal roll and baked Alaska with a singed wave of meringue topping layers of moist pound cake and fresh raspberry sorbet.

And more.

Just when guests thought they couldn’t swallow another bite, along came a waiter bearing a gleaming silver petit four tree--a tall stand where each silver leaf was topped with an exquisite bite-size concoction.

When guests weren’t dining, they were dancing to the nostalgic tunes played by a ‘40s-style band. Among the selections were “Lili Marlene” (a salute to legendary Marlene Dietrich, who had died in Paris on Wednesday), “Satin Doll,” “As Time Goes By,” “Perfidia” and “Besame Mucho,” a zesty Latin number that saw Wes and Mary Jones race to the dance floor to fly .

“My,” a puffing Wes Jones said as he took his seat after the hot number, “for a minute there, I forgot I was in France.”

No doubt about it, this was the best of both worlds.