France:

May 29, Wednesday: Had a wonderful breakfast of bread, butter, jam and coffee. This hostel served coffee the traditional French way in a big round cup, almost the size of a soup bowl. I enjoyed it so much I had two cups. Some people dipped their bread in so I tried that too. Then I headed out for a tour of the caves at Moet et Chandon, the home of Dom Perignon!

Outside the front entrance was a statue of Dom Perignon, so I set up my tripod so I could take a photo of the two of us. This early in the morning the tour was small, only three or four of us, led by an American guy who was studying French for the summer. The tour was excellent! We travelled underground where they actually make the champagne and learned all the steps in the process. It was quite cool, 10C, which is the natural tempeature of the chalk earth found in this part of France. Only grapes grown in this region and processed in a certain way are eligible to be called "champagne," others can only be called "sparkling wine." The champagne makers in this region are adamant about that.

One of the most important parts of the process, during the aging in the bottle, is that the bottles must be turned 90 degrees each day. No more, no less. It takes a bottle turner about 3 years to perfect the motion, using two hands and turning maybe a hundred bottles in minute. This is pretty tough on the wrists, so bottle turners only have about a 7-year career before they get transferred to another phase of the process! Ever wondered why there is that conical indentation in the bottom of champagne bottles? Well, even as far back as Dom Perignon's day, they realized that the carbonation built up great pressure inside the bottle. When one bottle in the rack burst, it would destroy many bottles around it from the force of the explosion. By redesigning the bottle, it forces the pressure to escape along the length of the bottle, rather than equally out, so it does not tend to break other bottles in the rack!

After the tour, which was filled with lots more information, we got to sample some champagne! Worth waiting for!

I took a train to Reims, not far away, which is famous not only for its champagne, but for its gothic Cathedrale de Notre Dame, decorated with stained glass windows by Marc Chagall.

Next: Luxembourg