Babymoon- 1st Anniversary

This past weekend, Shane planned a surprise destination getaway to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. To make things more interesting, it also doubled as our "babymoon". With my only request being- not too far away from my doctor!, he schemed up an incredible trip. Where did we go, I know the suspense is killing you????!!!!!

Shane chose for us to go to the Champagne region for a few reasons. One, it was another place we could check off in our attempt to conquer all areas of France. Two, it was within my 1-3 hour radius of my doctor. Three, the area was in full autumn vibrancy... Since we both love the fall, I border on obsession, it was perfect! Plus, four, who doesn't like to try a sip of champagne straight from the vineyards!

We drove down to Reims and took in the sites of the quaint little town. It is known for its INCREDIBLE cathedral, dating back to the 1100's. Since the 400's, there has actually been a church on the cathedral site. To continue our quest to become more cultured, we went to the museum where the surrender treaty was signed by the Germans in WWII. Very interesting.

Our next destination was a town called Troyes. Many of the buildings looked like they were fresh from the pages of a Shakespeare play and contained a ton of character, leaning to the side and crooked. The bed and breakfast we stayed at was unbelievable. It looked like a place straight from a fairytale, with a secret little garden and wooden beams. Loved it! The town is known for a special kind of sausage they produce, andouillettes. Shane attempted to try some on his pizza and then was generous to share some with me. Conclusion- DISGUSTING!! It tasted like the pig sty and had the consistency of mush. Ick ick ick. Needless to say, it was not a French delicacy we will crave!

Saturday we had our favorite breakfast of french pastries and coffee and then set out to see the country side. We drove through itty bitty towns, each boasting multiple champagne producers. The day was incredibly beautiful, crisp and fresh with the smell of fall. Our windows were rolled down in the car and we found it to be the perfect oppurtunity to sing along to Christmas carols. Wonderful! We were able to see one champagne factory and taste some of the various types sold. Neither of us are huge fans of champagne, but it was fun to see the champagne making process and to experience the final product.

Sunday, we sadly had to leave our little bed and breakfast and hit the road to the cider producing part of the region. With another perfect sunshine filled day ahead of us, we stumbled upon a Fete de Pomme (Apple Festival). AWESOME!! We were the only English speaking people there and all the locals were out with their stalls selling tasty products of the region. Of course we loaded up at the festival on some French goodies- no sausage though! The apples were delicious and fresh, picked right from the orchards surrounding the festival.

The highlight of the trip was visiting another champagne producer at his home. A fellow officer at Shane's work had recommended we visit the vineyard where he gets his champagne from and arranged an appointment for us. Little did we know what kind of adventure was to be had! We pull up to this little house in the tiny town with vineyards all across the street. A little old man comes out and welcomes us in. Turns out, this is the man we had the appointment with and his son was on his way to translate. We were actually able to communicate with our French and sign language while the little old wife kept telling us to MANGEZ - EAT!!!! The champagne had been produced by this family for over 5 generations and was a smaller producer, with only about 30000 bottles a year. So we sat around in this little French man's living room, sipping champagne and just chatting about its production and life in general. It was surreal. Then he took us into his basement where 1/3 of his champagne is stored and explained to us the process, with the help of his son translating of course! They even walked us up into the vineyards, cut off a bunch of grapes and had us eat some. We left feeling so blessed for our glimpse into small town French life and also weighed down with a few bottles of champagne.

The weekend was incredible. There were so many once in a life time memories made. Most of all, it made me so thankful for my amazing husband who put so much time and effort into creating the perfect weekend. Being married to Shane just gets better and better! He has set the standard high for anniversaries to come....