Rainy days...

From day two of arriving in Paris we have seen quite some rain. It has rained almost every day at some point. We have had some huge storms and not so much heat... leads me to ask is it really the second week of summer? While I hear that Ontario is suffering from a heat wave, 35-40 degrees with the humidity, here I am in Paris wearing a sweater and a scarf! I'm not complaing about the lack of heat - we all know that I hate hot temperatures, but a nice 22 degrees while touring wouldn't ruffle my feathers!
The past 3 weeks have been a blur - with my mom leaving and then Mike coming... and going. We had a great vacation together... I worked far too much, but Mike got almost everywhere he wanted. Much better than my mom he mastered the metro on the second day! I got him addicted to the lovely baguette sandwiches and he found himself drinking Orangina by the litre! WIthout boring you all to bits - Mike's first European vacation was a success and he was not wanting to go home at all. One place we didn't manage to get to was Normandy, but with my schedule it was impossible. Alas, we will plan a vacation for just the two of us when I don't have to work!
On Monday I, along with some tour buddies, got in a car and escaped crazy Paris for some lovely french country side. Our destination: Champagne region! Lovely drive and scenery and about 1.5 hours later we arrived at our destination of Reims, France. Some of you who are champagne lovers may know that the lovely champagne bottle adorned with a red ribbon comes from the beautiful city! We got out of the car and proceeded into the front door of the MUMM building and signed up for a tour. Not just any tour, but a tasting tour! Our guide was a lovely German lady who was very knowledgeable of the entire "Champagne creation process". We toured the caves where there are over 25 million bottles of champagne just waiting to finish their "process". The best part at the end of the tour our now expert Champagne minds got to taste 3 different champagnes from the MUMM house. Right to the head it all went, but definitely an experience not to be missed. My mom and dad will be happy that I picked them up a VERY nice bottle of Champagne that is not sold in Canada and they can enjoy upon my return in just over 1 month!
What else is there to do? I do have a couple more spots to hit in Paris - this coming Monday I am going to see Moulin Rouge (yay free tickets!), and I also have to go to Musee D'orsee and Notre Dame. After that I can say au revoir to Paris! Double dark is quickly approaching and I'm heading to Nice, Cannes and Monaco. My new friend Laura (accounting) and I are going and it will be a blast. We are going down by TGV (aka the really really really fast train), and then will be returning by plane. Definitely looking forward to that trip!

Tout a l'heure!!