Tuesday 31 July - Reims - 25C. Today we left the hotel around 10am to get some breakfast, but got distracted on the way to buy a pair of shoes in the last day of the summer sales in France. We eventually got to breakfast and started to plan the assault on the rest of the started the day buying shoes, then we had breakfast. Today is the last day of the "sales" in France and I am hoping to make a dent in the economy.

We visited a shop that sold Fossier biscuits, these are little pink biscuits that are unique to Reims. The Fossier shop also sells macaroons and other types of biscuits which you can taste, which we did this afternoon.

Our main purpose for our visit to Reims was to do a tour of Ruinart the oldest Champagne House in France. The tour began at 2pm with a charming your lady who we later found out was Russian but married to a Frenchman. The tour lasted a couple of hours and took us to into the limestone caves deep under the ground which were originally mined for their limestone. The temperatures remains constant at 11C so is ideal for storing Champagne. Our guide was most informative and took us through the stages of production and we viewed thousands of bottles and magnums of Champagne. The tour finished with a tasting of two of the types they produce and the serves were quite generous.

We walked back to town and had afternoon tea on the way. After a couple of Champagnes it's always good to have a rest so we returned to the hotel for siesta and watched the Olympics.

Tonight we went out for dinner to a Brassiere in the main street and had a delicious meal while we watched the moon rise and the fountain change colours. Our holiday is nearly over and it’s been so enjoyable.