Champagne Time!

Standing at the edge of Place Drouet d'Erlon in Reims, France

Since its been some time since we took a driving trip, Colin and I decided to head out to Reims, France for some champagne tasting.  At just under 4 hours away, we thought it would be refreshing to be in France for the weekend, so we did the usual packing up of Trusty and Lola and took off for champagne-land.

En route...

The trip was great!  Reims has some historical sites, but not so many that you can't spend a good portion of your day in the various champagne houses. :)  We focused our morning on the Reims Cathedral, the site where  26 French kings and queens were crowned and Joan of Arc led King Charles VII to be crowned in 1429.  Then we checked out the very cool art deco library donated by Andrew Carnegie, and the Palais du Tau.

These windows depict the champagne making process

There are more than 2000 statues on the inside and outside of the Cathedral

Colin with a bust of Mr. Carnegie

Art Deco Chandelier inside the Library

Palais du Tau

While its architecture is not as old as some other European cities due to its bombing during WWI, Reims is gorgeous because it was reconstructed during the Art Deco age.  Its a glamorous place to be able to sit at a sidewalk cafe on the main pedestrian street (the Place Drouet d'Erlon), sipping champagne (ok, Colin still got a Belgian beer...) while people watching.  Being part poodle, Lola fit in nicely to the scenery.

We got down to business at noon after doing our sightseeing.   We bussed to Taittinger for a tour of the champagne house and caves.  Champagne was first made in Reims in the 17th Century, and we toured Taittinger because it has some of the oldest champagne caves in the area.  The deepest part of the caves dates back to Roman times.   In the caves, you could still see the stairs that led up to a former abbey on the Taittinger site.  Apparently the monks used to have underground paths throughout the city of Reims, and some led from the abbey to the Cathedral, and another old church, the St. Remi Basilica (photo below).

There is over $300 million worth of champagne going through the double fermentation process in the caves.  We were very impressed and thirsty by the time the tour was over. ;)  After Taittinger, we walked to a smaller scale local champagne house called Martel where we enjoyed some additional tastings.  We did a little bit of damage buying some bottles for our own celebratory purposes, and kept using our upcoming 1 year anniversary as an excuse!  It was so fun!

The largest bottle contains 120 glasses of champagne!

Some 72,000 bottles of champagne are behind me!

Colin and I in the deepest part of the caves that date to Roman times

Happy shopper

our growing collection..

After our champagnaganza and a good nap, we were back on the tour scene.  We headed to the St. Remi Basilica, the Porte Mars (the last remaining Roman gate in Reims) and the Surrender Room.  The Surrender Room is where the Germans signed the document of surrender of all German forces, ending WWII in Europe on May 7, 1945.  It was neat to see that old room in tact just as it was in 1945, as well as view the location of the surrender in a very unassuming old school.

Porte de Mars - built in Second Century A.D.

St. Remi Basilica where St. Remi is buried

Actual document of surrender from the Surrender Room

Table where the surrender documents were signed by the Germans

Outside the Surrender Room

On Sunday, we returned to Heinsberg, but not without stopping for some French pastries first!  They are so delicious!  We picked up some croissants, pain au chocolat, eclairs and Fossiere biscuits roses (cookies the French dunk in champagne).  Colin couldn't wait till we got home, so you'll see a pic below of him enjoying his treat on our rest stop on the drive home!