Champagne was a quick 2 day stop between Paris and Burgundy and provided a great environment to learn a bit more about the drink, the history, and some food. The 2 days were quick, but really eventful. Sadly, Brooke suffered a bout of light food poisoning on our last night in Paris so she didn't get to enjoy some of the delicacies on our 1st day.
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La Maison Crayeres in Reims: While poor Brooke dealt with some food poisoning, I had an amazing 3-course lunch while Brooke drank ginger tea. Can you believe she let me do that?! The park and house sat on top of the famous limestone caves where citizens would gather during WWII. The Pommeroy Champagne house across the street sat atop of the caves where the schoolchildren met.
Avizses: After I took a visit to the spa and Brooke battled a stomach bug, we concluded a tough day with an excellent 5 course meal at one of the Grand Cru villages of Champagne.
(Feeling better the next morning)
Epernay: As the unofficial capital of Champagne, we loved walking through Rue du Champagne drinking champagne and touring Moët, Perrier Jouet, and De Venoge.
(Napolean's hat at the Moet house)
Reims: our 1 day stop in Reims was great. We stopped by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. This cathedral saw the crowning of multiple Kings of France, including Louis the XIV. Stop 2 was at the location where Germany officially conceded WWII. We learned about how the charge from D-Day and the run to Paris ultimately lead to Germany conceded.
On the hills overlooking the small village of Verdun which was the location of one of the largest WW1 battles. 130K French and 160K German soldiers perished in a nightmarish battle that lasted nearly a year.
The famous Magenot line was meant to be the armored line that was supposed to keep the Germans from attacking France ever following the end of WWI. However in the creation of of this line the French forgot to extend onto Belgium so during WWII, Belgium allowed Germany to enter and they went right around the Magenot Line while attacking and eventually occupying France for nealy 4.5 years.
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