cathedrals, champagne, etc.

So today, I went to Reims (pronounced rein-ssss) with IES for a school sponsored excursion, which is why I apologize if any of my facts are slightly off. The tours were in French.
We toured the Notre Dame Cathedral there, which was where they used to coronate the kings (before the revolution, bien sur). It was a cool experience and we had a guided tour, which was nice. I probably did not profit from it as much as I could have because I was freeeeezing, tired, and hungry. But I got a lot of the main points. They're massively restoring it again - unsure how many times they've done so, but once was with money from Rockefeller/Rockefeller Jr., which is nice to see that their money went to good use. Though it was built in the Middle Ages, it tries to "blend" that art style with modern art - all of the stained glass windows are new, and there's even a set that was designed by Marc Chagall.
Then, luckily, we ate lunch in a restaurant with heat, and I got caffeine. All previous complaints erased, we headed over the the Pommery Champagne Caves. It was a cool experience - we got to walk through the caves with a tourguide who told us all about how you make champagne, the differences between the champagnes, how you can buy a super huge bottle for 500euro (serves 86 glasses!). Overall enjoyable. (Fun Fact: Europeans do not consider, nor is it legal to call, any sparkling wine that is not produced in the Champagne region true champagne.) We had a glass at the end of the tour as a "tasting", but ended up being more of a drink a glass of champagne while hanging out with your friends. It was nice to see a region of France that isn't Paris - very different.

In another direction, I've begun a picasa account through google that will let me upload photos to my computer, put them in a certain folder, and they sync with this web address:

paris blog

I promise to upload Spain pictures soon too!
Now, it is time to watch some American TV and sleep - we left for Reims at 7:45.