Reims, France

The first part of our trip was spent in Reims, France.  Josh had a conference there for work and the girls and I decided to tag along!  I had never been to France and was excited to experience another part of Europe.

The flight was mainly uneventful minus our eldest loosing her goldfish RIGHT as we were about to board the first plane in Tbilisi.  Thankfully it seemed to be a fluke and after a quick outfit change (praise the Lord for remembering a shirt in the diaper bag) we were good to go again. The flight was even more enjoyable thanks to Maddy having her own seat and the lovely individual movie screens.  Why every plane doesn't have this I don't know!

Lunch with Daddy before the conference started

Once in France we made our way to Reims.  Poor Josh got stuck with car driving duty our entire trip as we had manual rentals in both places.  We checked into out hotel and decided to get out and explore the town a bit.  We had heard from a fellow hotel guest about a champagne tasting and decided to go there first.

Reims is right in the heart of champagne country so it was a must on our list there.  We got to the festival with only 2 hours left.  This ended up working out great as we got discounted glasses and all you could drink samples for only 10 euro a person!!  Did I mention that this day also happened to be my birthday?!  It was a fun little treat!  As soon as the vendors started to pack up we headed into old town for dinner.

Making our own fun in the hotel

Old town Reims

The next day we had to ourselves as Josh's conference didn't start till Tuesday.  We spent the day checking out St. Remi cathedral which is said to have inspired the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  The church was beautiful and Josh got some amazing pictures of the inside structure.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and enjoying each other.  We headed to a local city park for Mara to play then out to a local eatery in old town for lunch.  We let Mara ride the large double decker carousel and just spent time walking around the shopping district.

Champagne cellars at GH Mumm

Lunch in France

The rest of the week was pretty standard for me and the girls.  Josh had his conference everyday for the entire day.  While he was gone we made a point of it to walk to the old part of the city (only about 10 minutes away).  We'd stroll around and pop in a few shops here and there (bookstores, toy stores, and a few clothing places).  Then we'd grab lunch and make our way back to the hotel for naps.  We did decide to ride the tram around one day.  Mara was so intrigued by the tram running through town and Josh had free passes for it.  Made for cheap fun!!

St. Remi Cathedral

St. Remi

 We did get to connect with Josh in the evenings and made a part to do dinner together.  The conference held social events for the attendees every night and we were thankful to be able to tag along.

Playing at the park

The first night was a tour of the cathedral of Notre Dame not to be confused with the one that inspired the movie OR the big one in Paris ;) The bishop of the church gave us the low down and then we were free to explore.

Carousel riding

The second night was really neat with a tour of a local champagne cellar, GH Mumm.  It was really neat to learn more about the process of brewing champagne and to see where it is stored!  There were over 25 kilometers of tunnels under the city at this cellar alone!  Josh ended up staying for dinner but it was late so the girls and I went back to the hotel.

Beautiful interior of St. Remi Cathedral

Overall we had an amazing time in France.  It was so nice to be able to tag along on Josh's official trip and get to sneak a few family things in there as well.  I don't know when we'll have the opportunity again so it was an added blessing!