View from the Pearl Tower: Champagne tasting

So last Sunday, I spent the day in a beautiful little village in the Champagne region called Epernay. The village is tiny, but it is home to Moet & Chandon headquarters. I took the train with my two friends Hilary and Chrissy, and we spent the morning exploring the area and had an amazing lunch. We came across the Opera house that still has scars from when Epernay was occupied during WWII - bullet holes on the outside. We also spent time wandering around the Hotel de Ville and surrounding park. It was a gorgeous day (one of the first in weeks it seems). In the afternoon, we headed over to Moet and took a tour of the cellars. The cellars were huge and hold millions of bottles of champagne. Afterwards, we had a champagne tasting in the private garden where Napolean used to come and buy champagne/socialize. Our guide, Helen then surprised us by taking us to the abbey that Dom Perignon ran and where he really invented and developed champagne. Our day trip was definitely the highlight of my summer in France.
Here are a few photos....