Bonjour, readers!
I write to you now from the very long line outside of the Ann Frank house in Amsterdam. Luckily there’s free wifi! And I’m really excited to see the inside of the house. But first let me fill you in on my adventures yesterday.
Alyssa, my friend with whom I’ve been staying while in Luxembourg, and I woke up early and made the 2.5-hour drive south to Reims, France, the champagne capital of the world.
We spent the first couple hours touring the Notre Dame Cathedral of Reims and the neighboring Palais du Tau (Tau Palace). The cathedral is absolutely magnificent. The architecture is mind-blowing and detailed. The steeples soared into the sky, and it was crazy to think how something so tall and huge could have been built without the construction equipment we have today. We’re talking 13th century here, people.
The sad part is during World War I, German shellfire extensively damaged the cathedral. Parts of the roof collapsed, statues crumbled, anything made from metal melted, stained glass windows shattered from the heat. To this day, much of the exterior is still blackened from the flames. But extensive restoration efforts over the last century have made a huge improvement. It’s still sad, though. Yet another awful byproduct of war.
After our tours, Alyssa and I found a cute Parisian bistro nearby where we stopped for lunch. Ordering was a challenge. Our waitress didn’t speak English and neither of us spoke much French. Thank goodness for smart phones and Google Translate. We both ended up getting a glass of champagne and a plate of sausage, turkey, and ham over sauerkraut with sliced potatoes. It was quite good. But then I haven’t tried anything in Europe that I haven’t ended up loving. Except for coleslaw.
After lunch, we wandered down the street to a little bakery where I had seen macarons on display. I didn’t quite know what they were, but I had read about them in a novel I recently finished. My curiosity was piqued. We each bought three of the little pastries. I chose Nutella, vanilla and coconut-chocolate flavors. I tried the Nutella one first.
Oh my goodness.
It was heavenly. It was sensational. It was an explosion of all that is beautiful and right in the world. If all the warring nations on planet Earth would stop and eat macarons, there would be world peace. That’s how unbelievably delicious these little cookie things are. I could have eaten the entire bakery.
Alas, I drank lots of champagne instead. Such a hard life 🙂
Alyssa and I drove about 25 minutes south of Reims to the little town of Chigny Les Roses. The land surrounding this village and the many neighboring villages is covered in grapes. Vineyards as far as I could see. I had never seen anything quite like it before. It was a beautiful sight. We stopped at Champagne Gardet, a very well known French wine and champagne maker, and asked to do some champagne tasting.
Full disclosure here: I’ve never been wine tasting. And the first time I ever drank champagne was two hours before this at the bistro in Reims. Needless to say, I’m a total newb with this stuff. But I loved it! The champagne was delicious, every single kind we tried. I tried a glass from one variety that was bottled in 2006. I could immediately tell the difference in the taste. It was richer, much stronger, and the taste lingered a lot longer than the newer bottles.
We tried five different kinds of champagne under the advisement of a lovely French woman who worked at Champagne Gardet. I left the tasting room with two bottles of French champagne to take home and flushed cheeks from all the samples. Now the problem is I’ve set my standard for champagne pretty darn high, having tried it for the first time in the champagne capital of the world. We’ll see how other brands compare.
Well that’s all for now. Bonsoir!
Meredith Metsker 