Our 2nd Anniversary in Spain

This week we are celebrating our arrival in Spain two years ago. We left Seattle on July 22, 2017, landed in Madrid on July 23, and arrived in San Sebastian on July 25. It is hard to believe how quickly the time has flown by and how much we have accomplished since we’ve been here. We’ve continued to improve our Spanish, completing 55 weeks of classes over a 20-month period, and we generally are no longer intimidated by speaking Spanish daily. We even went to the doctor this month for comprehensive check-ups, including a battery of tests, and found we understood everything the doctor told us as we met with him about the results (all good, thankfully). Quite frankly we enjoy the rhythm of the language and find the challenge of reading the newspaper to be meaningful. We have even started watching bits of the nightly news. Of course, understanding bad news (local or global) in two languages is not particularly uplifting. 

We are enjoying life here, especially when given the opportunity to show visitors around. There’s always something going on – Woody Allen is currently filming his latest project here; something to do – Jazzaldia is this week; exhibits or movies to see – the Apollo 11 documentary was quite good; and new vocabulary to learn – recently we’ve focused on Pedro Sanchez’s efforts to form a government. 

So, on to year three, during which we start the process of renewing our visas for two more years.

No regrets,

Shana & Jeff 

Training for Vacation?

So, now that we have finished relating our adventures from our most recent trips, we want to tell you briefly about our next trip, which is in about five weeks. Although we don't usually write about our trips in advance, this one is special because we are currently training for it. Training? Yes, because our next trip is a swimming tour in Montenegro.

On this trip, we will be in Tivat, Montenegro on the Bay of Kotor for five days, and will spend four-and-a-half days traveling around the bay and Adriatic by boat and then swimming to our destinations. Each of the first four days will have morning and afternoon swimming sessions, with a morning-only session on the last day (nine total), and will cover distances of between 2.2 and 2.8 kilometers (1.3 and 1.6 miles) each.

I have never before swum for exercise (or to arrive at a destination!), and Shana hasn't done so in years (and never in open water). Thus, since we returned from France, we have been going to the beach twice a week, which we are  increasing to three times, and training in the La Concha Bay (pictured below). We think this is pretty good practice because while the bay is partly protected by Santa Catalina Island, there are definitely waves and currents. We have had rough conditions for some of our training sessions, and others that are much calmer. We can definitely feel the difference! We swim along the buoy line that is deployed to separate swimming areas from boating areas in the bay. And, although we don't know exactly how far we are swimming, we now swim about 35 minutes at a time.

Fortunately, no one is forced to swim on our trip. If you don't want to swim at any time, there are kayaks and stand-up paddle boards you can use, or you can simply sit on the support boat all the way to whatever site we are seeing that day. But, we are preparing as if we are going to swim the entire trip since we don't want to be the old folks who can't hack it (there will be 14 other people on our tour).

With five weeks of training still to go, we are hopeful that we will be ready, but we are also trying to keep in mind that we like to kayak and paddle board. 

On the trip we will also be in Paris for one day and Dubrovnik (Croatia) for two, so it will not all be pain and drudgery...uh, I mean swimming. As always, we'll keep you posted.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Visiting Verdun’s WWI History

Having visited Normandy’s WWII beaches in May, we felt we should also explore a bit of France’s WWI history while staying so close to some of its most famous sites. So, in addition to seeing a few bunkers in the Champagne area on our bike excursion, we took a day trip out to the Verdun battlefields.

The longest-lasting battle of WWI (Feb. 21-Dec. 18, 1916), and one of the costliest battles in military history, Verdun exemplifies the "war of attrition" policy pursued by both France and Germany, leading to more than 700,000 casualties (dead, wounded and missing). There are many monuments and memorials in the area to see and loads of information to digest.

Our first stop was at the memorial to Andre Maginot, the French Minister of War who was responsible for fortifying France in the 1930’s after the damage sustained in WWI’s trench warfare. He was a native of the Verdun area and a veteran of the battle. Of course, in 1940 Germany invaded France through Belgium and Holland, avoiding the Maginot line of defense, and the line is now a metaphor for expensive efforts that offer a false sense of security.

We then visited Fort Douaumont, the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive works that had protected the city of Verdun since the 1890s. The fort fell within the first days of the battle of Verdun and wasn’t recaptured until October 1916.

We spent the most time at the Douaumont Ossuary, a memorial containing the skeletal remains of both French and German soldiers who died on the Verdun battlefield. It was built on the initiative of Charles Ginisty, Bishop of Verdun, who took it upon himself to start collecting the soldier’s bones for proper burial. Next to the Ossuary lies the largest WWI French military cemetery with 16,142 graves. It was inaugurated in 1923 by Maginot.

The site includes a memorial to Jewish soldiers who fought and died for France in WWI, which was hidden from the Germans during WWII, and a more recent separate memorial to Muslim soldiers.

The Verdun battlefields cover a large area that included numerous French villages that were destroyed by the fighting. These villages have been memorialized as well, six designated as a “village that died for France.” We visited one – Fleury-devant-Douaumont. During the battle, Fleury was captured and recaptured by the Germans and French sixteen times. The 400+ inhabitants were able to flee but did not return. The village could not be reoccupied because the land had been contaminated by corpses, explosives and poisonous gas, so the farmers could not return to their work. The site includes markers for the locations of the village’s baker, farmhouses, and other businesses. A small chapel, rebuilt at the site of the former village church, is the only building there now.

Notice the trees on either side of the pathway to the chapel. We were surprised to learn that in the 1920's, France decided to turn most of the Verdun battlefield into a natural forest. The area around all these monuments is covered by a forest that includes hiking trails, ponds and, of course, all types of wildlife.

Fleury is right down the road from the main Verdun Memorial and museum.

And nearby sits a memorial to the fallen from the 130^th Division in the form of a dead lion.

It was a long and intense day. We learned a lot. For whatever reason, we both feel like we know more about the history of WWII than WWI, so it was interesting to visit and contrast the two. Of course, there’s only one lesson from both – war is hell and should not be glorified as a solution for any conflict.

This is the last post from our London – Champagne region trip. We’ve been back to the routine and enjoying the summer here in San Sebastian for the past three weeks. We’ll post more about the summer fun here soon.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff 

Bike Tour in Champagne

In addition to visiting three of the large champagne houses in Reims and Epernay, we visited a small house in a village near Reims as part of a half-day bike tour.

Our guide, Romain, picked us up at our apartment, and we were off to grab our bikes and begin the tour of some of the small villages in and around La Montagne de Reims. Now, La Montagne de  Reims is not much of a mountain, only 940 feet above sea level at its peak, but when you are riding up the incline into the natural park that covers the top of it, it feels much higher.

Our first stop on the journey, partway up the "mountain", was at some vines growing on the slopes. It turns out that some of the best pinot noir grapes used for champagne grow on the slopes of La Montagne de Reims, while lesser grapes grow in flatter areas lower down. The top of the mountain is covered with trees and is designated as a natural park. The views were beautiful:

One of the things we learned at this initial stop is that although the large champagne houses are responsible for most of the champagne production in the region, it does not own most of the land. In fact, many small land-owners own the vast majority of vineyards and sell the juice to champagne makers each September when the harvest takes place. We even saw rows of vines where one person only owned about five rows. Pretty small, but very valuable real estate.

After this stop, we continued to the top of the mountain and got to ride a bit through the trees (and a bit of rain) before making a stop at a number of military bunkers that date to WWI. It turns out that although La Montagne de Reims is not very high, it is the highest point in the area and commands a great view both east, from where the German armies were expected to attack, and northeast, from where the attack actually came (through Belgium). We will have more about WWI sites in our next post, but it was interesting to see that bunker building techniques did not change much between WWI and WWII.

Continuing our trip, we stopped to see  other vines and views, along with grabbing a picture of the Mumm Windmill, which we had heard about on our tour there:

Next, we rode along a series of flat roads that used to be a railroad prior to WWII. During the later stages of the war, Nazi Germany was in dire need of steel to make weapons and therefore ripped up parts of the railway for that purpose. We even saw an old station that is now abandoned. Now, the railway no longer exists and its route is just paths among the trees and villages for hikers and bikers.

Finally, after 2.5 hours on the trails, we returned to Romain's van and drove to his family's champagne house for a tour of their cellars and, of course, a tasting. Although the tour and information we received was very similar to what we had heard from the bigger houses, it was interesting to see everything on a smaller scale along with viewing the actual production area. In fact, the business is run from a building on the same property as his parents' house and the caves are beneath that building.

We also really enjoyed the tasting because at each of the larger houses we tasted only one champagne, in each case their standard brut. But, at Larnaudie-Hirault we got to taste three. First, we tasted a Brut Naturale, which is a champagne in which no additional sugar is added in the final stages of production (most brut (dry) champagnes add 5-9 grams of sugar per liter at this point). We found the Brut Naturale really interesting and recommend trying it if you ever come across one, which is only likely in specialty wine stores in the US. Next, we got to try both a blanc de blanc (a champagne made entirely from chardonnay grapes) and a blanc de noir (a champagne made entirely from red grapes, but which is still white). We really enjoyed all of their champagnes and even bought a few bottles to take home.

We will definitely try to return to the Champagne region and visit more of the smaller producers that are in the villages surrounding Reims and Epernay. Although it is more work to set up such visits, we think the quality of the tastings would definitely be worth it.

Au revoir,

Jeff and Shana

Tasting Champagne Where It’s Made

We had the good fortune to taste champagne in the Champagne region for my big birthday. How did this come about? Well, when we looked at the host cities for the Women's World Cup in France, we noticed that one of them, Reims, was the unofficial capital of the Champagne region and from there it seemed obvious, where else would one celebrate their 50th birthday?

We have never been big champagne aficionados. Although we have resolved to drink more sparkling wine on various occasions, champagne was never a favorite. It tends to give Jeff a headache and the bubbles make you feel full quickly, so a bottle can go to waste. And it seems that good champagne is way more expensive than good wine. Still, we are open to new experiences and it certainly looked pretty and romantic.

As you probably know, champagne can only come from the Champagne region. Otherwise it’s sparkling wine, or prosecco (from Italy) or cava (from Spain). So, what is it that makes champagne so special? Well, let’s start with the kilometers of caves carved out of the chalk underneath the cities of Reims and Epernay. These caves are the perfect place to age champagne because they always maintain a temperature of 12 degrees Celsius and a constant (high) humidity.

We visited three big champagne houses on our trip: Mumm (cave in photo above), Taittinger, and Moet & Chandon. Each provided a tour that included a walk through the labyrinth of caves, with an explanation of their history and the process of making champagne. We learned a lot. Here are the highlights.

Champagne can be made with three types of grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier. If only white grapes (chardonnay) are used, it is a blanc de blanc. If only red grapes are used, it is a blanc de noir (although it will still be a white wine). And if it is infused with red wine or the skins of the red grapes are used it is a rose. Interestingly, Champagne is the only region in France where red and white grapes may be mixed together.

What makes champagne unique is that, unlike regular (still) wine, it goes through a second fermentation process. During this process the wine gains its effervescence through the addition of yeast, which eats sugar and emits carbon dioxide. The wine ages for a minimum of 18 months, although generally it is left for at least 3 years or longer by most champagne makers. Depending on the quality of the champagne, it can age for 5-10 years or longer before the yeast is removed, and then additional sugar is added, and the champagne is corked and aged further. This means that the champagne makers age the bottle for you and if you buy champagne it is ready to drink. So no need to hold on to it! One big difference with wine.

Another major difference was notable to us – champagne generally will not have a year on the bottle. This is because the majority of champagne is made with a blend of grapes (from the three types) from various years. Champagne will only have a year listed if it is made with grape harvested from a single year (called vintage champagne) – and this is the exception because most harvests are not of sufficient quality to merit this effort. We learned that each brand of Champagne is intended to have a consistent taste and the way the houses accomplish this is by blending, including reserving wine from previous years and blending it with the present year.

We enjoyed the tour and the champagne the most at Mumm. Taittinger was interesting and elegant. Their caves are some of the oldest (dug out by the Romans), sit under a former abbey/cathedral (the stairway was used by the monks), and they even commemorate that Peter the Great visited:

Moet was the most arrogant. They mentioned more than once – well, like every other sentence – that they produce the most champagne and that Napoleon visited often. No joke, if we played a drinking game based on taking a sip every time they name-dropped Napoleon we’d still be hung over. But what do you expect from the most-corporate champagne house in existence? (They are part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy luxury brand conglomerate and have truly maximized the marketing value of champagne.) Here is their atrium roof and a photo of a port barrel that was a gift from . . . you guessed it, Napoleon:

Moet also owns the Dom Perignon brand, which only makes vintage champagne that is aged a minimum of 10 years. In their [exit-through-the] gift shop they displayed this amazing celebratory champagne flute tree for wedding celebrations (a bargain at about 4000 Euros):

Overall, we gained a new appreciation for champagne and perhaps will drink more of it in the future. We certainly would consider another visit to the region to explore more.

Cheers,

Shana & Jeff 

The Reims Cathedral

Cathedrals and churches are omnipresent in Europe. Every city you visit typically has at least one to visit. Sometimes we go in, sometimes we don’t, and they often start to blend together. Thus, it is unusual for us to post about a cathedral. But the one in Reims was so compelling that we wanted to share a few tidbits.

First, the cathedral dominates the city skyline. Because you can see it from nearly everywhere, including where we stayed, it draws you in.

Second, the city projects a light show onto the cathedral at night during the summer that is mesmerizing. What a cool concept to be able to stand outside of a monument that has hosted numerous coronations and watch an amazing display of the building’s history creatively conveyed with lights and music. Here are a few photos of the show:

We caught the show on the way back from our first Women’s World Cup soccer game, so we missed the first few minutes and I couldn’t get any spectator-free shots, but I hope these convey the uniqueness of the show, which increased our desire to see the inside of the building.

Third, the cathedral has an incredible history. Around the year 498, Clovis, the first French King, was baptized at the cathedral’s location by Saint Remi, which created the kingdom of the Franks and linked the power of the kings of France to God. The cathedral then hosted the coronations of all but seven French kings over a thousand years, including Louis IX (later Saint Louis), XIII, XIV, and XVI.

Fourth, the cathedral is impressive inside and out. It was built between 1211 and 1516 in the Gothic style, with various efforts to expand, improve, and upgrade extending through the centuries. Because the church was built after Paris’s Notre Dame, the builders took advantage of the myriad improvements in construction techniques that came with time. The cathedral’s stained-glass windows are impressive as are its wide aisles:

The rose window seen in the first picture had to be replaced after WWI, although a few other windows were either spared or preserved. The multi-colored windows depict the life and activities of the local community, including the champagne industry. And the blue windows may look familiar to some for good reason – they are the work of Marc Chagall, who designed them in 1974.

Finally, the cathedral’s history extends into the 20^th century. In WWI the cathedral suffered extensive damage from German bombing, being that it was located so close to the front and was an  obvious target. In fact, most of Reims was destroyed. The cathedral was rebuilt in large part due to the largesse of the Rockefeller Foundation. In WWII, much less damage was done to Reims, but it was an important place in the history of the war because on May 7, 1945, the allies signed the treaty to end WWII in the city in the school room where General Eisenhower had set up his headquarters. And on July 8, 1962, President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer celebrated the Franco-German reconciliation in the presence of the Archbishop of Reims at the cathedral. That’s a lot of history!

As cathedrals go, this one is worthy of a visit.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff