The City of Reims

Reims was the perfect city to transition us back into Germany. The hotel was in listening distance of the church so we could hear the bells and there was a towel warmer in the bathroom - just like home! The city itself was walk-able, people friendly, not crowded, and had lots of green spaces.

There were plenty of great restaurants to choose from, like this place where we had a nice brunch outside:

The weekend we went also happened to be the weekend of their Renaissance Festival.

While neat, hubby and I had grown accustomed to drinking at festivals and unfortunately France is lame when it comes to this - there was no booze at this fest.














But there was a crazy looking buzzard and what I can only assume was an escapee from Hogwarts:

We also got to go to the Museum of the Surrender. Hubby chuckled when I first mentioned this to him, joking that it was so appropriate to have such a museum in France. Har har har - this was actual location of the German surrender of WWII. They left the room totally intact:

Reims, like most cities between Paris and Germany, had tons of rebuildling to do after the war and, you know, bombings. One thing that remained, though, was this Roman arch:

Pretty neat. We also were treated to a fancy music and lighting show at the Notre Dame Cathedral on Sunday evening:

I'd love to come back here, too :-) There was a grocery store across from our hotel, so on our final night we got some tasty rolls, ham, and cheese for sandwiches. We also got some small cheesecakes and these chips (which tasted EXACTLY like cheeseburgers! Yum.)

Sadly, all great trips must come to an end sometime. After 10 days in France, we were ready to get back home. We stocked up on necessities for the train:

... it really made the four hour trip sail by :-)

Champagne Country Tour

After an amazing time in Versailles, we got back to Paris and boarded the TGV for Reims, the capitol of Champagne. The TGV, of course, is France's high speed train and it did not disappoint. Hubby was a little miffed on the train from Frankfurt to Paris because it wasn't going super fast, but this one was hitting a top speed of 320 kph (198+ mph).

Needless to say, we made it to Reims in a cool 46 minutes, right on time. We went to our spiffy hotel for the evening to prepare for our guided tour the next day.

We woke up Saturday and made our way to the tourist office next to the train station where we met up with our guide and the rest of our group. There were 6 of us total in a minivan - me, hubby, a couple from Surrey, England, and a French Canadian woman who couldn't have been sweeter :-). A great bunch for sure.

The group started off toward Épernay, a city slightly south of Reims that has most of the big Champagne houses and cellars. While en route we stopped for some views and history:

We drove past Bollinger, 007's Champagne of choice :-)

More views (and you can see a little flooding, too):

Soon we were pulling into the Moet & Chandon parking lot for our Champagne cellar tour. Parts were pretty moist...

Tons of bottles....

Oh yeah - Napoleon stole this from the Germans while it was on its way to the country to give to a friend. It's the thought that counts, right?

At the end we got to have a glass, yay!

We were swayed and bought a bottle. While we were checking out we found out that the person assisting us had actually been born in Mainz. Small world! He seemed excited.

On to lunch: Our group had actually been split into two vans so we met up with the others to have this absolutely delicious lunch with, I think, 6-8 different kinds of Champagne. We also got to try their regional liquor (and bought a bottle, yum!)

Our lunch spot in the cutest little French town:

This food was amazing - and the huge macaron at the end was raspberry and peanut butter! Swoon.

More views on the way to the smaller Champagne house:

And we stopped by Dom Perignon's final resting place! Aaahhh!

Here's the cellar in the smaller Champagne house, after we toured the bottling facility.

All in all, quite the bubbly day. I'd definitely recommend our tour group, France Bubble Tours.

Next post: I'll share our adventures staying in Reims and (sadly) leaving France.