Veuve Clicquot Champagne - Honeymoon/Semana Santa Pt. V

The second champagne house we visited, and the one we were most excited about, was Veuve Clicquot on the south side of Reims.

We started the tour and learned about 'Le Grande Dame' Madame Clicquot, who was one of the first female business owners in France in the early 1800's.  

Fun Fact:

The caves Veuve uses to store their champagne were originally mined out by the Romans in ~200bc for the construction of buildings and monuments in the area.

Unfortunately, our tour of the caves was cut short by an untimely illness.  But the staff there were awesome and we had already done about half of the tour.  Next time were in Reims we'll do the whole sha-bang!

G.H. Mumm Champagne - Honeymoon/Semana Santa Pt. IV

I know, I know.  It took us a while to get to the good stuff.  Here we go...

Our first champagne stop in Reims was G.H. Mumm (like moo-m).  After getting only a little bit lost we made it there for our 'Premiere' champagne tour.

Fun Facts:

1) Mumm is the third highest selling champagne in the world.  

2) Cordon Rouge (red ribbon) non-vintage champagne is what they spray on each other on the podiums of Formula 1 races.

3) The best champagne is always in magnum (1.5L) bottles.

The champagne region of France is technically too wet to be a good place to grow wine grapes.  However, underneath the entire region is chalk which helps the ground drain better than normal allowing grapes to be grown.  The chalk also absorbs water and because of this, the caves where the champagne gets stored are humid and stay a constant temperature.

Apparently the walls also come in handy when you forgot your calculator...

They have over 24km of tunnels in the ground and so they give them street names and signs to keep everything organized.

After touring the cellars (and seeing champagne bottled in the 1870's) we went upstairs and sampled some champagne.  Because we're awesome (and signed up for the Premiere tour) Kelly and I (and one other guy) got to sample two vintage champagnes, a rose and a brut, while everyone else only had one non-vintage glass.  Suckers...

Trains - Honeymoon/Semana Santa Pt. III

After our brief stint in Paris we went to the Gare de L'est and caught our train to Reims.  Since we live a life of ease and leisure, we booked first class seats facing each other with a table in between.

Train travel is by far one of the best things about Europe and, as you can tell, I am suuuuper excited about this (and the Gouda flavored crackers, which were delicious).

As you can see from the screen behind the girl with the silly cheeks, the train goes well over 300kph (186mph).  The highest speed we saw the screen get up to was 330kph, which is over 200 mph.

Just in case you were wondering why someone had silly, puffy cheeks.  The answer, as usual, is wine.

Checking out the scenery.  Even going really fast, its a great way to see parts of the country outside of the city.  And doing so with a Belgian beer and (amazing) French crackers makes it even better.

More Paris! - Honeymoon/Semana Santa Pt. II

After we found our (new) hotel in Paris and had a good nights sleep, we woke up (relatively) early and killed a few hours walking along the Seine before our train trip to Reims.

We took the Metro to the Ile de Cite, grabbed a cafe au lait and a croissant, and went to check out Notre Dame.

We have been to Notre Dame twice before, but this was the first time the line to get in wasn't insanely long so we finally got to go inside.  And it's huge.  And beautiful.  

There was a small service going on so we wandered around the periphery of the church.  Interestingly (to me) the stain glass windows actually open to allow air to circulate.

Next, we decided to wander towards the Eiffel Tower.  Except we went the wrong way (and no, you couldn't just see it and walk towards it, I think).  But we did find the soon to be closed lock bridge which Kelly wanted to put a lock on.  However, we didn't have a lock so we started walking back in the right direction until we came across a guy selling locks.  So we bought a lock and then walked back to the bridge where we got our lock on:)

We walked down to the closed road that runs next to the river, and it turns out they have lots of awesome games painted there.  Like the long jump here.

And, because its Paris, there are tons of places to take really good pictures.  Across the river in this picture, under the white tents, is a small flea market that we went and visited.  I'm pretty sure any Francophile could furnish their entire house there.

We also ran across this barge/park.  Its 3 old barges that have been turned into a park with plants, trees, and even a greenhouse.

And also these sweet nets that looked like a great place to take a nap except that they were not comfortable at all.

Finally, we made it to Paris's big radio tower.  After walking around (we have never gone up, going in things isn't really our M.O. for traveling if you haven't noticed) we decided to find some food and take in the nice weather and the great view.

We stopped at a stand to get Frites and Wine.  However, they would only sell you frites (which they were dumping straight out of the Carrefour bag into the fryer, how authentic)if you got 2 hot dogs with them.  Picture french fries and 2 hot dogs... got it?...  Wrong.  We got a small bowl filled with fries with 2 hotdogs (no buns) layed across the top.  Fortunately, Kelly proceeded to immediately drop the hotdogs on the ground, so we ended up with just frites and wine after all, which we sat and ate right in front of the Eiffel Tower (Most enjoyable moment of this, watching a crow try and grab these hotdogs.  After a few tries he just got the whole thing in his mouth (sideways) and flew off).

Barthelona!

So, in February, flights to Barthelona (the proper way to say Barcelona in Spain) were uber cheap.  Like, 18 Euros each way.  So off we went to Barcelona for a fun weekend!  We've both been a couple times now so we were looking forward to going back.  Coming from Grand Junction and Palma, we were surprised by how many amazing restaurants were there.  In the past we've mainly eaten at local cafes and places near our hostel.  This time we looked more places up and went out of our way to find some good food that our taste buds were craving!  (e.g. HAMBURGERS!).  That being said, our trip to Barcelona definitely consisted more of food than anything else.  Sure we saw the main attractions (ones we hadn't seen on past trips) and rode the metro and visited our favorite areas. But really, we just ate.  A lot. 

At a restaurant called Milk, we found real Bloody Marys!

And Brunch!!

Really, real brunch.  If you didn't know, brunch is significantly more American than apple pie.  People in Europe just don't do brunch.  Usually, if you ask them if they have brunch, they ask you if you're American.

This is the remnants of our Hamburger from the restaurant Bacoa.  

Look, its a bar, no, its a clothing store.  Wait, its both!  Its a bar in the back of a women's clothing store.  Best.  Thing.  Ever.

Happiness is an espresso followed by a martini.

Hanging down by the water, drinkin' some wine.

We went to the La Caixa forum, to see an exhibit on the architect Le Corbusier.  Along with most of his original architectural models, they also had several of his paintings.  Some of which Kelly took pictures of before she was asked to put the camera away because thats not at all allowed.

Ice Cream!!!

Vino

It has been a crazy week! The movers arrived last Wednesday morning and luckily we had a house to more everything into! Will has been busy riding his bike since his helmet and shoes arrived and I’ve spent my time pulling my classroom together and going to new hire orientation! Weather everyday has been a perfect 90 degrees with super ridiculously low humidity. In other words, awesome.

Friday afternoon my mom and dad came into town to help out with the move and check out the new place. Woohoo! We spent most of the weekend unpacking and experimenting with a few of the local restaurants.

Ridley was a huge help with school work

Sunday morning we planned to go for a hike, but at the last minute changed the plans and went for a drive on the Colorado National Monument.

After the monument, we got ready for an afternoon of wine tasting! We decided to do it right and got a driver to take us over to the nearby town of Palisade, home to at least 18 vineyards! Randy (our super driver) came and picked us up, and gave us the grand valley tour. We stopped at 4 vineyards and a peach farm. A couple of the vineyards had wonderful outdoor seating overlooking the vineyard where we were able to stop and enjoy a bottle of wine.

School begins Monday for the both of us... back to the real world.