A visit to Reims

Well today (July11) we went to visit the town of Reims, which is in an area of France called Champagne. Of course by the name you should be able to guess that this is the home of Champagne. The champagne that is produced in this area is the only real champagne. The stuff that is in the United States and the rest of the world is only sparkeling wine. Only about 20% of what is produced in champagne is exported to the rest of the world. We started off by visiting a champagne vineyard, which was really fun but a little cold. The building is really modern so it was a really nice trip. When we walked in there was a gigantic champagne barrel that could hold 20,000 bottles worth of champgane in it. We watched a little film about Mercier who was the founder of the champagne company mercier. After the movie we hopped into 2 glass elevators and began our journey down to the cellar. It was a really entertaining elevator ride because there was a scene set up with a couple in a hot air baloon, then we went down farther and there was a sculpted wall with grape pickers and stuff, and then farther down was a little replica of the moutain side of reims with the mercier champagne vineyards. Once we reached the cellar floor we got into a laser guided train to take a tour of the cellar where all the champagne is kept, approximately 16 million bottles. It was really neat to ride around the cellars that were so old and to see the different processes of how the champagne is tilted and stacked and shaken and all that stuff. There was a lot of history in the cellar, which I will not go into because it is to much. We got back in the elevators and went to the shop where we were treated to a glass of the famous Mercier champagne. It was so delicious and fruity. There were so many bottles to choose from and a few different types. This had to be one of the best field trips that we have taken on our trip.

After the vineyard we went to lunch at a restaurant called Le Chapon Fin where we ate smoked salmon, chicken and potatoes, and raspberry cake, and drank lots of wine. Lunch was really good even though it took them 45 minutes before we got any food. We then went to the cathedral of Reims which looked just like the Notre Dame in Paris. It was actually called the Notre Dame of Reims. We got back on the bus and headed back to Evry. Everyone fell asleep on the way home so that was a nice ride.