Bon jour from Reims in the Champagne region of Northeast France!

Reims is a spur-of-the-moment unscheduled stop. (Jenni loves champagne, and we're in the vicinity, so why not?)

JENNI: Rows and rows and rows of vineyards surround Reims and the Champagne region. The train rides into and out of Reims was just beautiful. The weather is nice - even warm - and we found the Tourism Office and a place to stay rather quickly. I have a theory that is yet to be proven wrong in our travels - if you turn right as you leave the train station, you get to the center of town. I'll let you know when that theory proves untrue. .

JOE: We decide to book a tour for the Pommery Champagne House - the place where they make some of the most famous Champagne in the world. Jenni is in heaven. She loves champagne (or "po-chain" as she's been known to call it after she's had a few glasses.) The one-hour tour takes us deep below the ground in a giant, cold cellar where Madam Pommery began to refine the making of sparkling wine years ago. They go into considerable detail about how they pick the grapes and then make the champagne … storing it in bottles underground. They even turn the bottles every 3 or 4 days for several months while they're in storage to make sure they're just perfect. The guide informs us that THIS is the only REAL champagne. The sparkling wines from other regions are NOT champagne. Hmmmm. Well, they do seem to take this stuff way too seriously, but I guess this is how they get away with charging so much.

JENNI: It's a consistent 50-degrees in the cellar, year-round. In the early 1800's Madame Pommery took over the business when her husband died, and decided to build this cellar so far underground to maintain the chill, and also to build it on the outskirts of town on top of old Roman chalk pits. This was a time when women did not make business decisions - and if they had to, it was only right to consult a man on any decision. Madame Pommery did things her own way, and did them well. When she took over the Champagne House, they were cranking out 23,000 bottles a year. By the time she died, more than 2 million bottles of Pommery Champagne were sold each year. According to the tour guide, 6 million bottles are now sold - meaning that every 5 seconds someone is opening a bottle of Pommery Champagne. We bought a bottle on our way out after the tour…they say it's not available in the US yet. It's a seasonal champagne, light and refreshing for the summertime. The winter champagne is heavier and warmer. It is delicious - we drink it with our usual picnic goodies: cheese, breads, fruits.

During the tour, we saw several workers piling up giant bottles of champagne. The tour guide explained that these are the largest bottles in which you can make the champagne directly in the bottle...anything larger and it bursts. Larger bottles do exist, of course, but the champagne is actually poued into the bottle after the champagne is created - it cannot be created in those bottles. These larger bottles take a lot of care. Most of the work with them is done by hand, including the turning Joe mentions, the corking, the labeling...they are very delicate bottles, apparently.

This was one of the more interesting stops to make - I'm glad we decided to pull over!

JOE: One last interesting note about Reims: it's also famous for being the town where the Germans officially surrendered to end World War II. They even have a "SURRENDER MUSEUM" here. We skipped that one, but it just goes to show you the French have a museum for everything here. Well, almost everything. There is not yet a museum for the FRENCH SURRENDER in RECORD TIME at the beginning of World War II. Don't look for that one any time soon! (I love to give the French a hard time!)