Vacation Flashback (Culture Edition)

So many photos, so little blog... probably really bad blog etiquette to still post summer vacation pictures, whilest the first autumn storms ravage the business plans of the good people of the Oktoberfest.

Still, Karl keeps on mentioning our excursion to Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny. He was really tripping on it. Not because he's the descendant of a long line of culturally inclined Central Europeans, but because he loves this picture book of a little girl named Linnea who visits Monet' garden. So there we were on the bridge over the water lilly pond which Monet painted over and over again...



...and at the pink house Karl's been reading about over and over again...



...strolling the flower gardens where all the flowers are still grown that were the feature stars of the golden age of impressionism.

On the way back to Germany we got another dose of culture, stopping in the city of Reims. Lots of different culture, since Reims is also the capital of the Champagne region. And since all real champagne comes from the Champagne, it is a mighty wealthy town with lots of champagne wineries in town. It was a Sunday, so half were closed, but we managed to visit the headquarters of Taittinger and ask for "one each". Alright, we didn't get any bottles that regular stores tend to keep in locked cases. We also stayed at a hotel a few yards from the bland looking school where the instrument of surrender was signed, officially ending World War 2. Aaah, Europe. So much history, so little continent. Won't bore you with further elaborations on food and drink, but one great place to visit was the Cathedral of Reims. There are huge church windows by artists like Marc Chagall and Imi Knöbel amongst the marvels of mideaval glass artistry. Quite a defeat for digital technology by the way. Impossible to take a decent picture with either an iphone or other digital camera. Well, live marveling beats iPhoto loot anyways.