Reims

After our stay in Paris, we decided to spend a weekend in Reims, the center of the champagne region.  Again, the beginning of the trip was interesting, due mostly to hauling our bags through the Paris Metro stations.  Sarah's bags took a couple hard falls down the stairs of Metro stations, all the while damning the lack of escalators.  The most humorous part, in hindsight, would probably be Sarah getting stuck in the Metro entrance turnstiles.

Upon arrival in Reims, we were able to find a hotel easily, and set out on discovering Champagne. 

We headed out on foot for our first Champagne house, Taittinger.  It was a bit of a walk, but an interesting one.  Reims is a very old city, but the architecture is varied, due to the heavy bombing the city endured during WWI especially and WWII.  You can walk past the newer, more modern buildings (very basic, seemingly cheaply done and flat) that is in stark contrast with the neighboring ornate and classic architecture.  The reigning symbol of the city, Notre Dame, is also very modified.  It stands now much as it did in the days when it was the place for the coronation of French kings, and during the triumphant moments of Joan of Arc.  During WWI the church was nearly destroyed, and was rebuilt largely by donations from Americans who loved Champagne  (a great book to read on 

 the history of Champagne is Champagne: How the World's Most 

Glamorous Wine Triumphed over War and Hard Times by Don & Petie Kladstrup).

Taittinger was a fantastic experience, with a very informative tour.  The three pictures are from the caves of Taittinger at a depth of 14 meters.  The caves are older than the city of Reims, with some parts dating back to the 4th century, having been dug out by the Romans.  The caves remain at a constant cool temperature, and the chalk that forms the caves retains a constant high humidity as well.  What the pictures reveal that we could not tell in the caves was the green mold growing on the walls.  At the end of the tour was a tasting, and we really enjoyed this house's nonvintage brut.