Getting Rowdy in Reims... and Epernay!

While we were on the USO tour to see some of the Rhein river, we met two great ladies on the trip.  Laura was working here as a contract nurse and her friend Barb was visiting her for the first time.  We really hit it off with these lovely ladies on that trip.  While we were there, Barb invited me to join her on the RTT trip to Reims, France.  I immediately jumped on board because I knew this was the champagne region of France, and I LOVE champs!!  I also knew this trip would be so much more fun with a buddy!  The trip cost about $105 US dollars and I think was pretty worth it!! We met on Ramstein AirForce Base and boarded the bus around 6:30 a.m.

At around 9 am we stopped for some French breakfast, which consisted on pain au chocolat and caffe au lait.

Then we decided to start having some champs (German Champs) on the bus (since we weren't driving)!

Our first stop was to the Museum of Surrender.  You watch a 10 minute video about the German Surrender on May 7, 1945, then you are free to go through the very short museum.  If you are into WWII artifacts there are some cool ones throughout the museum.  The coolest part of this stop was the Signing Room or War Room where Eisenhower participated in the signing.  This was included in our overall cost, but normally costs 4.00 Euro to enter.  

We then headed to the city center to start at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Reims.  The church is 800 years old and is composed of Gothic architecture.  Clovis was the first Christian King in France.  Since his baptism the Reims Cathedral is the place where 26 Kings have been coronated.  According to Rick Steves this church has more political importance than Notre Dame in Paris and is said to be as important to France asWestminster Abbey is to England.  This church was so beautiful and pictures just don't really capture the detail and beauty! It is free to enter the church and pretty central to lots of other site seeing around Reims.  

From here I took Barb all over Reims!!! We put our walking shoes on and were on a mission to eat French food and see all the highlights in 3 hours!  Next to the Cathedral is the Palais du Tau.  It cost about 7.50 Euro to enter, but we didn't have time or lots of interest to go in.  We walked by the police station and thought it was The Opera House.  We tried to enter and then realized it was the Police Station and not the Opera.  A man came out and told us we couldn't come in and at first we were confused. We felt pretty dumb when we walked another block down and found the actual Opera House! 

 Not the Opera

 The Opera

 Sqaure on Place Drouet

From there we ventured out to the main drag called Place Drouet d'Erlon.  This is lined with shops and restaurant and considered a little "Champs-Elysees.  The main square has some fountains and a carousel that spice it up! 

At the end of this street you come to the Porte de Mars, which is the only above ground monument surviving from ancient Reims.  This was the entry gate into the city.  

From here we were in search of yummy French Cuisine!! There were so many restaurants and we weren't able to find any of the Rick Steves recommendations due to our time crunch.  We found a place with a 3 course menu and decided to try it out! We ordered a bottle of wine and enjoyed some amazing food! My favorite was the salad with goat cheese.  I could eat that every day!

After lunch we wandered around a little bit and found a local wine shop where we both purchased some Moet and Chandon champs for the road.  We knew we were heading to the Moet and Chandon place in Epernay but luckily saved about $2 buying this bottle in a local store by the Cathedral.  

From here we hopped on the bus and went to Epernay.  I would love to come back to this spot and do more tasting and sight seeing.  Being in and around the vineyards is just so relaxing and beautiful! Our tour stopped at the Moet and Chandon home where the cellars still remain.  Our tour included one glass of champs to taste, but we both wanted more so we paid an extra $7 Euro to taste another glass.  The tour offers $17 for a single taste, $24 for two tastes, and $28 for vintage tastings.  Our guide was great and informative.  We toured the house and learned the history of the creators of Champs.  We watched about a 10 minute video before heading down to the cellars.  The cellars were amazing and so interesting.  They span about 14 miles, which is just crazy to me!! 

Dom Periogon Bottles 

After the tour was complete we were sent to the tasting room to get our champs on! It was pretty delicious and just really fun to see all the intricate details that went into the production of just one bottle of champagne.  

We ended our great day with some more champs for the road!! Seriosuly, this was a great one day trip! If you are pressed for time and want a quick and easy run down of this area I highly recommend RTT travel out of Ramstein for this tour.  It was $79 Euro and well worth it to see most of Reims and the most famous winery in Epernay.  I will say the only downside of a tour bus is you are at there mercy of stopping along the way.  Reims is about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive and could take longer due to stops that you probably wouldn't make if you drove yourself.  On the flip side they sold Champs on our bus for $2.5 Euro and they went like hotcakes!  We had one on the way and one coming home and it was a great!  I will definitely take Ryan back to try some champs in Epernay with me!! I know there is probably a lot more to explore in the entire Champagne Region of France!!