Reims & Epernay, France (with a little Paris in there)

Today was the day we got out of the city a little bit. Jon picked up our rental car which was walkable from where we were staying, we loaded in, and drove about 1.5 hours to Reims, France. Here, we were meeting our very good friends and their two kids who live in Germany. We met at the old cathedral in town and hung out in the gorgeous weather while the kids played tag. The two girls hadn't seen each other since they were 2.5 and they got along as well as ever!

The Reims Cathedral started construction in the 13th century. It is a pretty impressive structure and dominates the street it resides on. We gazed at the exterior for a bit before corralling everyone inside.  where a quiet and peaceful atmosphere awaited us. Most people were walking around looking at the statues and old and new stained glass windows, others were lighting candles, and some having a silent prayer.

After our visit there, we walked to a lunch spot that had room for all eight of us. Drinks and yummy French food was needed!

We then drove to Epernay where we had reservations at Champagne Mercier for 4pm. Unfortunately, the typical 25 minute drive from Reims took 45 minutes due to construction on the main road in, making us a little late. Our friends ended up taking a wrong turn and were 45 minutes late. Nonetheless, Mercier tried their best to wait as long as they could for them before they finally had to start since we were holding up other people. Just as that happened they walked in! Serious props to Mercier.. despite the extraordinary lateness they were very accommodating and nice about the whole thing.

We booked this tour with the kids because it seemed very kid friendly. The tour through the cellars was on a train, the elevator down to the cellar had glass windows that lit up with stars and videos, and the tour came with a headset that the kids were excited to listen to. It was interesting for all of us!

The last (and best) part of the tour was, of course the tasting. We tasted three champagnes, all which were very good. We bought six bottles to take back to the states with us.

This huge barrel holds 200,000 bottles of champagne!

On the train

We left Epernay and drove towards Paris. We had made reservations at a restaurant just outside of Paris where our friends were staying. Did you know that when you order a hamburger or cheeseburger in Paris that it doesn't come with a bun? Yeah, me either. That's probably because when you go to Paris you're not ordering hamburgers, haha. But J loves them and they happen to be on a lot of menus so here we are. The kids were so well behaved and the adults got to enjoy the meal!

We drove into Paris and made a last minute decision to go back to the Eiffel Tower since it was dark and we had never seen it shine before. We also didn't think we would get back there at night the next night (which we did). Lastly, it was about 9:50 when we got there and we'd get to witness the hourly sparkle show! We got an awesome parking spot and only had to step a few feet from the car to see the spectacle. This was one of the highlights for me this Paris trip. I had never seen it at night before, nor had I seen the sparkle show. It was truly beautiful and the kids LOVED it!

Sparkle show!

The Louve on the drive back

Next up, another day in Paris!