Last Saturday we all went to Reims, France which is located in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France and is famous for…drum roll… its champagne!

We started off by visiting the cavernous wine cellars of the Pommery champagne house. The caverns are old roman buildings that winded around, holding the sparking white wine while it ferments. We had a tour guide that was explaining the fermentation process of champagne, but I was too distracted by the modern art installations all around the caverns (oh, the French), one of which included a room full of the cutest little birds who were supposed to be landing on guitars connected to amps thus by creating music and completing the art. They were so cute though, and many of them had already built nests around the room, and some of them were cuddling with each other all bird-like. Sometimes small animals can really make the difference between a bad day and a good day for me. Anyway, the fermentation process had something to do with putting yeast in the wine and rotating the bottle so that bubbles were properly formed, and then they do it again, and then they spiff up the bottles and sell it to us to consume and feel classy. At the end of the tour, we all got our own glass of champagne which was nice and tasty.

The last interesting visit of the day was to the Cathedral of Reims, a gothic cathedral whose stained-glass windows and exterior reliefs puts Notre-Dame de Paris to shame. Everything inside and outside of the building is so intricate and beautiful. For some reason, I was having serious problems concentrating that day, so I ditched our tour (I also take three classes on medieval architecture right now anyway) to go sit in the middle of the nave and listen to this choir sing. Gothic architecture is made to be so high you feel as if you are ascending towards God, and in the Reims Cathedral, those architects did a pretty good job of making me feel a little spiritual.