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

February EuroTrip Part 1: Paris on Speed

I've really been meaning to post a blog about the family trip that we had in February, but I haven't gotten around to it.  It was brought to my attention that this is long overdue so I am going to document the trip for my own records and for anyone who reads!  My Mom, Ernie, Matt, Megan and Megan's Mom all came over to visit me for a week during my February vacation.

Well first of all I'd like to say that the amount of things we did within two days in Paris was just not human.  If I had to do it again, I don't think I could.

After I picked up a drowsy bunch from the airport at 7:30AM on Friday morning, we took our stuff back to the hotel and I gave everyone an hour or so to chill out, shower, etc. The calm before the storm.  After that we had a quick coffee, and decided to just jump right into our day of tourism, head first.  We started off with the big one: the Eiffel Tower.  This is one thing that will never get old, it's always fun to see, and even more fun to go up.  The view of Paris is amazing.  Unfortunately we really didn't have the best weather, but that's no surprise considering it was February.

After the Eiffel Tower we had lunch over by Notre Dame, and then spent some time visiting the Notre Dame cathedral.  I was expecting everyone to crash since we were already into the late afternoon, but they all made a miraculous recovery during a fun photo session playing with Megan's new panoramic camera behind Notre Dame and near the Ile-Saint-Louis area, followed by a coffee break in a nearby café.  I decided to continue on with the ultimate day of tourism and keep them moving while they were still semi-conscious.  We headed for the Champs-Elysées, to get a glimpse of Paris's famous shopping street, as well as the Arc de Triomphe, which is lit up beautifully at night.  We took a walk around the world famous Louis Vuitton store (while fighting the swarms of asian tourists, of course), tried to take in the view of the Arc de Triomphe, and and then headed all the way back up to Montmartre which one of my favorite areas of Paris.  You have to take a short little funicular to get up to the area, but it's well worth it for yet another great view of Paris.  This is where all of the artists used to hang out back in the day (Van Gogh, Dali, Monet, Picasso) and I think that it's Paris's most picturesque area.  We found a restaurant, and finally sat down long enough to take a breath and soak in our day's accomplishments.  I think we must have taken the metro about ten times, making our day passes well worth it.

When we got back to the hotel, I was impressed with everyone's stamina, as some of us even stayed up for late night drinks in the hotel room.  I of course generously gave them a full 9 hours to rest up before we started it all over again the next day.

The next day was much more calm, but we had pretty limited time since we had to jet set over to Cologne on a 6p.m. train.  We started our day off visiting my favorite museum, Musée de l'Orangerie.  This is a perfect museum to visit in Paris if you don't have a lot of time.  You get to see some beautiful French impressionism, specifically two huge rooms covered in Monet's water lilies, and it's not nearly as overwhelming or time-consuming as other museums such as the Louvre or Musée d'Orsay.  Afterwards we walked through the extremely "posh" area near the Tuileries gardens in the 1st arrondissement, ending up at Place du Vendome.  Our plan was to head down to see the Catacombs of Paris, which was Megan's only wish on her trip to Paris.  We were pretty let down when we got there to find an hour long line full of hundreds of other tourists with the same idea.  She was a good sport about it though! Since we really didn't have much time, we just had a nice lunch in the same area, and headed back to the hotel with just enough time to grab our luggage, sandwiches and some drinks for our three hour train ride over to Cologne.  More to come...
p.s. Thank you Megan for the beautiful photos that I stole from you, I don't have any of my own!  Click on the pics to see a better view of them

view from the top of the Eiffel Tour

inside Notre Dame

playing in the park behind Notre Dame

Arc de Triomphe & the Champs Elysées

Dinner spot: Montmartre

Place du Vendome

Musée de l'Orangerie

France: 1 Ba: 0

Why does it have to be so difficult to do laundry?  It's a good thing that I only teach 16 hours a week because I really don't know how I'd fit this into a busy schedule.  The first year I did my laundry at Thibaut's parents house, so that was fine.  Last year I had a washing machine so I did laundry every week and hang-dried it in my apartment.  Now, I have to use a laundry mat.  Thibaut usually brings his laundry here every other week and we do a big laundry mat trip.  I have no problem doing laundry there, but the main issue here is drying clothes.  France doesn't have "normal" dryers that we have in the States.  You know, the kind you all have in your houses and take advantage of everyday (yes, I am bitter).  The dryers here don't release the moisture to the outside like they do in the States, it just heats up the clothes, causes them to steam, and spins them around, which results in wet clothes with lint and hairballs all over them.  They claim it's because they "don't want to pollute like we do in America." Pshh. I'm not falling for it.  France is always a few steps behind in everything else : technology, movies, music, etc.  Why not with dryers? 

So, obviously I am forced to hang dry everything.  I guess it's better for my clothes since drying them can shrink or wear them quicker, but this past week I went insane.  I tried hanging most of it on these funny drying racks that I bought at Ikea, just like I've been doing for the past 6 months with no problem.  Well I guess it was too much, and as I was walking upstairs I heard the shower pole crashing down.  It took Thibaut like 10 minutes to get it back up, and I of course decided to hang "just one" on there again.  Crash.  Came down again.  So finally we hung them on some trees outside.  Also, I cannot take the time to hang every sock and pair of underwear on a drying rack.  I am way to impatient for that.  So now I just dump everything on the kitchen floor and hope that it will dry sometime soon.  Don't worry, I washed the floor the day before! 

This is kind of like a drying rack, right?

sheets go on the door

before

oops.

Sorry, Clevelanders

Spring is here in Reims, and I am loving every minute of it.  It's like I live in a completely different city than I've been living in all winter.  The past two days I've gone on long walks on the canal, discovered amazing parks, and have been sitting out in my garden trying to get a little bit of color on my blindingly pale face. 

I'm really lucky to have a little garden, most people live in apartments and don't even have a balcony.  I can hang my laundry outside, and once it's warmer I can set up a table and chairs and eat out there too!  My landlord is this nice old lady, she's 90 years old, and she comes over every morning and takes care of the garden.  At first I was a little weirded out that she was always creeping outside my window in the morning, but now I'm realizing that she has quite the green thumb.  I'm pretty excited for when my rose bush starts blooming again too!  

the rose bush

outside my kitchen window

my new fave park