On fête le Tram!

Finally the 3 years of construction in this town has paid off, and this weekend was the big opening of the tramway in Reims.  Unfortunately they've only built one tram line out of the 5 that will be built by 2030, but at least the construction's done in my neck of the woods.  The great news is that this ONE tram line that they decided to build happens to go from right in front of my house, to the train station, the city, then to the university where I work, and then to the other train station.  Basically the only places I need to go.  Not sure how on Earth I got so lucky but I'm just happy that my life is going to be a lot easier!  No more unreliable buses.  

For the tram weekend they had lots of festivities, including a really cool fireworks show last night, and a "surprise visitor" which ended up being a giant mechanical spider that climbed the cathedral and walked around the city.  Having the mechanical spider actually BLOCKED the tram line half the day yesterday, so I'm not really sure how this is related to the whole tram inauguration day, but whatever.  It was pretty funny seeing a giant spider walking around the city, kind of made me feel like I was in Ghostbusters or something.  

I've been trying to climb the cathedral of Reims for the past 2 weeks, but every time I try to go I get rejected.  Only 18 people are allowed to go up every hour on the hour, and only on the weekends!  I decided to take advantage of this tram inauguration and sneak up the cathedral on a day where everyone else was distracted.  The visit was really cool, we got to walk all the way around the cathedral on the top to get a great view of Reims, plus a closer look at all of the details on the top of the building.  It's really amazing how much more I am starting to LIKE Reims now that spring is here!

impressive view from the top

les fleurs de lys

so many little statues and details

my house is straight ahead, after the line of red buildings if you click on the full size pic

look on the left, the itsy bitsy spider slowly creeping up the cathedral 

the million euro mechanical spider who will be staying with us until October

The town of reims voted, and PINK trams won the ballot.  I think it was mostly women voting?

the sign in the new trams.  you'd think they could at least learn how to spell goodbye right before printing this and posting it on every door. 

Bones and Folk Music.

What do the two have in common?  That pretty much sums up my early weekend.  I went to Paris to visit Thibs since he had two days off on weds/thurs.  It ended up being a really great couple of days.  First we had lunch at our favorite place, L'As du Falafel in the Marais, which is great food and cheap prices, and then walked around the Marais for a little while.  That night we were invited to a concert by my friend Kaitlin.  She told me it was indie rock/folk music and it seemed like it could be interesting.  We ended up seeing a really great show, the band is called The Head and the Heart from Seattle, and they put on an awesome show. The band was great and we had a really good time with Katilin and her friend.  

We realized last week that this happens to be the one year anniversary of our catacomb adventure of last year.  For those of you who never heard about it, Thibaut and I spent an entire night underground in the catacombs of Paris, for an unofficial and completely illegal tour of the "world underground." It's impossible to explain in writing, so if you haven't heard about it, ask me this summer! Here are a few photos to bring back the memories: 

army crawling through one of the tunnels 

emerging from a manhole at 7am

We decided it was necessary to finally do the "official" catacomb tour to celebrate this important anniversary.  This tour is 100% legal and probably about 20000000 times safer.  So we met back up with Kaitlin, and waited in the half hour line to go back underground.  The catacombs were built or carved out by the Romans thousands of years ago.  The quarry didn't have much of a purpose until the 17th century, when Paris had a big problem.  At this time it was very important to be buried next to a church after you died.  The cemeteries started to get really overcrowded, but the priests kept accepting more and more people in their church's cemeteries, because the families were paying big money to put them there.  Eventually the cemeteries became so overcrowded that the smell was unbearable, and many people were getting sick with the plague from the unsanitary conditions.  This was when they decided to excavate the cemeteries and move the bodies underground, into what we now call the "catacombs." They turned a small part of the quarry tunnels into an underground ossuary. There are over 6 million people now buried in the catacombs, they were slowly excavated over many years (imagine having the job of "body mover" omg).  You'll see in the pictures that they marked the date, as well as the cemetery that the bones were moved from.  I was expecting just a few rooms, but this kept going, going, going, going forever!  It felt like it was never going to end.  It was interesting to see that no matter who you are, what color, what gender, what age, we all look the same in the end!  It was a little depressing but I'm glad that we went to see it.

At the end of the tour, we had our bags checked.  After observing the stack of bones and skulls next to the man checking, I realized that some sick people actually STEAL the bones!  Who on Earth would want to steal someone's bones?  There was a pretty big pile, and the guy told me that those were just from the past few days.  Sick.

Afterwards we went for a long walk around Paris, I needed to be outside for a little while!

entering the "empire of death" as they seem to call it

marking the date and place they were moved from

skulls in a heart shape, charming

barrel o'bones

walking on the Seine

Thibs and the Eiffel tower

The Real Champagne

Since the weather has been beautiful here, I've really been wanting to go on a hike through the different champagne villages around the region.  My friend Alexander hikes around every weekend on his own, and last weekend he took a little group out for the day.  I was of course very jealous that I missed out, and asked him to be my trusty guide for a Saturday hike through the vineyards.  I told our group of friends about it, and told them that whoever showed up at the station for the 10am train to Epernay on Saturday could come.  There ended up being 5 of us, which was a perfect amount of people.  We arrived in Epernay at 1030 and the walk began.  Most of the walk was through the vineyards where they grow the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes that are used to make champagne.  Along the way we stopped in three villages: Hautvillers, Cumières and Damery.  My favorite was the first stop, Hautvillers. This is the birthplace of champagne, and there are probably 20 different champagne houses there.  Dom Perignon is said to have created the "fizzy wine" drink that we now call Champagne sometime in the 1600's, and you might know the name because Moet & Chandon named their most fancy champagne after him.  We visited his tomb and gave thanks for his gift to us.  Overall we walked over 12 miles all day!  By the time we got back to Epernay it was past 7.  I know that I like to exaggerate, but I swear, it was 19.5 kilometers which makes a little over 12 miles.  We were all moaning and groaning the whole train ride home, but overall it was definitely worth the trip!  

walking along the Marne river

On the way to Hautvillers

where they grow the Moet & Chandon grapes

"the birthplace of Champagne"

Hautvillers

The abbey and gravesite of Dom Perignon

Our view during our picnic

quick lunch break

alexander, katy, david and adrien

fashion show on the river: the jean jacket completes the look

an old bridge that we were tempted to cross

we also found some gypsies along the way, yes actual gypsies this is no joke

going splitsies on a 5 hour energy to keep us moving

an old wash house where people used to do their laundry

February EuroTrip Part 2: German Escapades

The fun already had begun the second we got onto the train.  After hauling our luggage to the metro stop under a rainstorm, we were all ready to chill out and have a few drinks on the 3 hour train ride from Paris Gare du Nord to Cologne.  We were well-stocked for the voyage, except for the wine key which I lost in the hotel room (sorry Mom).  The restaurant server was thankfully very nice, and he proceeded to open all of the bottles that we had brought for the trip, and I don't even think that he judged us.  Or at least we couldn't tell if he did.  We sipped on drinks and ate our sandwiches that we packed for the road, even though I don't think any of us were very hungry after a big lunch.  

Once in Cologne, we got to the hotel and were really excited to find an adorable little place right by the train station and city center.  The parents all said they were going to bed, but we couldn't resist exploring the city.  All it took was telling them "we're going out" to twist their arms, and we all set off together to explore Cologne and have a quick drink.  

After being blown away by the lit up Dom cathedral which is right next to the station, we came across a typical brauhaus called Sion.  Our server quickly brought us each a Kolsch beer, which is served in a small 20cl (7oz) glass, and it's a light beer unique to Cologne and it's surroundings.  The beer is brewed in Cologne and can only be served for 6 weeks after, which is why it's never exported.  I thought we could use a little snack so I ordered us some sausage and schnitzel to give the family some samplings of my favorite foods ever. I like to tell myself that I can understand German sometimes, and usually I can at least order food. Well, they started bringing plates, and they just kept them coming. We each found ourselves with dinner plates full of any and every sort of potato dish imaginable, as well as 2 full meters of sausage (about 6 1/2 feet) and a side of schnitzel.  My bad.  We had the most delicious meal ever, which we spent the rest of the trip talking about.  In spite of already eating dinner, we all were proud members of the clean plate club and successfully managed to take down every last bite of the 6 foot sausage.  Disgusting, I know.

Afterwards the parents finally did make it back to the hotel, and Matt, Megan and I decided to go out for another drink.  We walked by numerous bars with horrible music, and finally came across our new favorite bar: Papa Joe's Jazzlokal.  Live jazz music plays here every night of the week, and it is one of the most famous jazz clubs in Germany.  When we first walked in, I think that Matt and I both had the same reaction, and all we could think about was my grandpa.  The band was playing the exact same kind of music that he played and loved, and even played a song that was requested by him to be played during his funeral.  A little spooky, but I think that was a nice sign to show that he was really happy that we were there together.  We ordered some more Kolsch beer and enjoyed the live music and fine hospitality of Papa Joe himself, and were the last people to leave the place.  

The next morning we got up and checked out the breakfast buffet at the hotel, which I really wish I had a picture of.  Meats, cheeses, bread, veggies, yogurt, cereal, you name it.  I grossed myself out as I found myself eating yet another feast.  Who says that a turkey and cheese sandwich shouldn't be had for breakfast?  Why not two? 

We went into the city without much of a plan, I think everyone was still exhausted from the 2 days before and quite frankly I was already sick of tour guiding, so we took a walk on the riverwalk and just hung out until Thibaut's parents arrived in the afternoon.  Since they had never met my Mom and Ernie, or Matt and Megan, they decided to drive up and stay with us in Cologne for a few days so everyone could meet.  We chilled out in the hotel in the early afternoon, and then set out with the intention of sightseeing the rest of the day.  Unfortunately it had turned from cold to freezing, and we decided to take shelter in the nearest bar.  Of course we needed some more Kolsch to warm us up, too.  We hung out there for a while and chatted, and then moved on to another Brauhaus for yet another delicious meal.  We were craving what we had at the Sion brauhaus, and even though our dinner was pretty good, it just wasn't up to par.  At that point it was already decided where we'd be going to dinner for our last night in town :)

The next morning Thibaut arrived bright and early from Paris to spend the day with us.  Thankfully his Mom is quite the tour guide, and she took over my guiding responsibilities for the day.  We walked down the main shopping street, and visited the home of the real, original "eau de cologne" house.  Afterwards we grabbed a quick lunch, and hurried back to the cathedral to catch our guided tour in English.  We really lucked out with the tour because our guide was awesome. He explained everything about the history of Cologne and the cathedral, and pointed out a lot of things that we would have never noticed.  After the tour, we all sort of split up and did our own thing, some went shopping, and us youngsters made the big climb of 509 stairs to the top of the cathedral.  I think we all could use some serious cardio after the sausage that we consumed over the past two days, and the view was pretty cool too.  

That night we returned to the Sion to show the Force's what we had spent the last day raving about.  We actually got put in an enormous conference room all by ourselves.  They kept the Kolsch beer coming all night, and we of course ordered loads of schnitzel, potato salad, and the famous 6 foot sausage again, this time served family style.  It was definitely a feast.  I think it was a perfect way to end a great trip to Cologne.  After dinner we had to show Thibaut Papa Joe's, so we spent the rest of the night hanging out there and listening to another great jazz band. The next morning we had a quick breakfast, and headed over to the station to catch a train to Amsterdam.  To be continued!   

Thalys train Paris-Cologne

Just a little late night snack 

Kölsch! 

Papa Joe's

biersteins on the 2nd night

the riverwalk 

I like the way they think. 

view from the top of the Dom

our last night in Germany

one last hurrah at Papa Joe's