One more quick post before bed

We head to Munich tomorrow, and I'm not sure what our connectivity situation will be there, so I thought I'd go ahead and post something quick right now.  Goodness, looks like my last post was a few days ago.  Time flies!

We've stayed busy getting out and about, and I'm still getting over the crud that has me blowing my nose every five minutes and coughing at inopportune times.  Ah, well.  I'll get over it soon enough.  I feel so bad for Jenna, though -- I'm afraid I gave her my cold.  At least we already mastered the whole pharmacy arrangement, so I can just pass on my medication to her.  Haha ...

Ah, what points to highlight ...

Well, we did the Eiffel Tower yesterday.  Climbed it at dusk, so the pictures are cool, and the view was even more amazing -- as I'm sure you can imagine.  I got a pretty shot of the sunset view from the tower.  And I included some tips to those of you who might consider climbing it in the future.  ;)  (nudge, nudge)

I can't remember if we'd done the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Eleysee before my last post or not, but anyway -- we did that.  The picture that I've included here is the view up the Champs-Eleysee, looking at the Arc de Triomphe.  The Champs-Eleysee is a big street in Paris, basically, with great shopping.  (See the pics.)  And just off that street is the blvd with all the BIG designers' stores; though, not to be confused with la Place de Concorde, which is where all of the big fashion houses are (where Chanel actually MAKES her clothes).

Oh!  And today we took the train to Reims, France (pronounced like you're clearing your throat -- seriously) to visit the champagne house of Taittinger, one of the few (if not the only) champagne house still owned by the family of its namesake.  It had many other cool historical elements to it .. such as ... one location where they create their

champagne is built on the grounds where an abbey once stood.  A way, way long time ago, monks at the abbey used to make wine there.  The ground under the abbey is pretty much solid chalk and the monks dug out tunnels and cellars underneath the abbey, where they eventually created and stored their wine.  Today, the Taittinger family uses those same cellars -- though somewhat expanded -- to store their champagne during the various stages of creation and to let them age.  The chalk, because of its nature, absorbs water and keeps the cellars at a constant, cool temperature, which is perfect for storing champagne.  Interestingly, there are also some very, VERY old quarries that date back to the Romans.  The Taittinger family discovered them by accident as they were expanding the cellars below ground.  Apparently, the Romans mined the chalk and brought it up to the surface to dry.  Once FULLY dry, it forms a very hard stone, which they used for building structures in the area.  At any rate, the history of the cellars was very interesting, but we also learned a good bit about the process of creating champagne.  And you know, "champagne" is called that because it comes from the Champagne region of France.  Then each variety differs based on a number of different factors: the kind of grapes used (chardonnay grapes, etc.), the time allowed for aging at each interval, the ratio of different wines used in the mix, etc.  It's all very intriguing and complex.  And they're still learning about it.  The Taittinger have a special room in their cellar where they store very, very, VERY old champagne and wine, to taste and experiment with over the years, since some things only reveal themselves with true time.

Okay, I've rambled on enough.  Go look at the pictures!  Like always, I've included little notes and details where necessary!  And if you have a question about a pic, just leave a comment.  :)

More pics and stories to come ... we head to Munich tomorrow and then Switzerland after that!