4. Oct, 2022

4. Oct, 2022

4. Oct, 2022

4. Oct, 2022

TUESDAY 4-10-22

It was another peaceful night on our Aire du Camping Car here at AY beside the river. Whilst it's lovely to be offered this facility in such a nice location for free, it has one drawback - they've turned the fresh water taps off, presumably at the end of September, the end of the season. Luckily we arrived here with a full tank of 100 litres, but I don't think we'll be in a position to take on water any more until we get home and so we've got to use it sparingly.

When we drew back the cab blinds we were greeted with a very damp foggy morning. This didn't bode well for taking photographs today.

We caught the service 10 bus parked about fifty paces from our parking space to Epernay railway station. The journey took about half an hour and cost €1.10 each. From there we needed to catch a train to Reims. The trains run every hour, and unfortunately we watched the 10:02 service arrive and depart whilst we queued for tickets. This made the eventual journey time to Reims quite a long one, but never mind, we arrived there, the added bonus was that as soon as the train track moved away from the river we were suddenly basking under a clear blue sky and warm sunshine.

So a bit about Reims:

Founded by the Gauls, Reims became a major city in the Roman Empire. Reims later played a prominent ceremonial role in French monarchical history as the traditional site of the coronation of the kings of France. The royal anointing was performed at the Cathedral of Reims, which housed the Holy Ampulla of chrism allegedly brought by a white dove at the baptism of Frankish king Clovis 1 in 496. For this reason, Reims is often referred to in French as la cité des sacres ("the Coronation City").

Reims is recognized for the diversity of its heritage, ranging from Romanesque to Art-deco. Reims Cathedral, the adjacent Palace of Tau, and the Abbey of Saint-Remi were listed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 because of their outstanding Romanesque and Gothic architecture and their historical importance to the French monarchy. Reims also lies on the northern edge of the Champagne wine region and is linked to its production and export.

By the 10th century Reims had become a centre of intellectual culture. Archbishop Adalbron (in office 969 to 988), seconded by the monk Gerbert (afterwards (from 999 to 1003) Pope Silvester II), founded schools which taught the classical "liberal arts". (Adalberon also played a leading role in the dynastic revolution which elevated the Capetian dynasty in the place of the Carolingians.

The archbishops held the important prerogative of the consecration of the kings of France – a privilege which they exercised (except in a few cases) from the time of Philippe II Augustus (anointed 1179, reigned 1180–1223) to that of Charles X (anointed 1825). The Palace of Tau, built between 1498 and 1509 and partly rebuilt in 1675, would later serve as the Archbishop's palace and as the residence of the kings of France on the occasion of their coronations, with royal banquets taking place in the Salle du Tau.

Louis VII granted the city a communal charter in 1139. The Treaty of Troyes (1420) ceded it to the English, who had made a futile attempt to take it by siege in 1360; but French patriots expelled them on the approach of Joan of Arc, who in 1429 had Charles VII consecrated in the cathedral. Louis XI cruelly suppressed a revolt at Reims, caused in 1461 by the salt tax.

During the French Wars of Religion the city sided with the Catholic League (1585), but submitted to King Henri IV after the battle of Ivry (1590). At about the same time, the English College had been "at Reims for some years.

The city was stricken with plague in 1635, and again in 1668, followed by an epidemic of typhus in 1693–1694. The construction of the Hotel de Ville dates back to the same century.

The lace Royale was built in the 18th century. Some of the 1792 September Massacres took place in Reims.

In the invasions of the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814, anti-Napoleonic allied armies captured and re-captured Reims. "In 1852, the Eastern Railways completed the Paris-Strasbourg main line with branch lines to Reims and Metz." In 1870–1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, the victorious Germans made it the seat of a governor-general and impoverished it with heavy requisitions. In 1874 the construction of a chain of detached forts started in the vicinity, the French Army having selected Reims as one of the chief defences of the northern approaches to Paris. In the meantime, British inventor and manufacturer Isaac Holden had opened plants at Reims and Croix, which "by the 1870s they were producing almost 12 million kilograms of combed wool a year and accounted for 27 percent of all the wool consumed by French industry."

A month after Blériot's crossing of the English Channel in a biplane, the aviation week in Reims (August 1909) caught special attention.

On 30 October 1908, Henri Farman made the first cross-country flight from Chalons to Reims. In August 1909 Reims hosted the first international aviation meet, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne. Major aviation personages such as Glenn Curtiss, Louis Bleriot and Louis Paulhan participated.

Hostilities in World War I greatly damaged the city. German bombardment and a subsequent fire in 1914 did severe damage to the cathedral. The ruined cathedral became one of the central images of anti-German propaganda produced in France during the war, which presented it, along with the ruins of the Ypres Cloth Hall and the University Library in Louvain, as evidence that German aggression targeted cultural landmarks of European civilization. Since the end of World War I, an international effort to restore the cathedral from the ruins has continued.

During World War II the city suffered additional damage. On the morning of 7 May 1945, at 2:41, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht in Reims. General Alfred Jodl, German Chief-of-Staff, signed the surrender at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) as the representative for German President Karl Donitz.

We decided to make our way straight to the Cathedral as that was the reason for our being there. My word it's a tall building. I had hoped earlier in the trip to just carry my little digital video camera as it can also take nice still pictures. The problem with it is that the lens doesn't cover a wide enough angle and so I can't get big things like buildings in the picture easily, so I'm still having to carry both cameras.

The interiors of such buildings doesn't do much for me I'm afraid and this one was no exception. It reminded me of the cathedral at Chartres, in that it reminded me of a rather ornate coal shed. My word the walls were dark and dingy. It was only the brightness of the sunlight streaming through clear glass windows that softened the dismal effect.

Never mind, my darling Chef enjoyed it and that's all that mattered.

After that we had a wander around before thinking about lunch.We stumbled upon a place about three doors down from MacDonald's where we ordered beefburger, fries and coffee twice, which came to thirty-three Euros. At first I felt we'd just been mugged, but I have to say when it came they did us proud. The burger was tall, rather like a MacDonald's burger perhaps is before somebody flattens it with their foot before putting it in the box. The filling was excellent and the portions of fries were huge. The coffee was great as well. So although it was a bit pricey, it was only fifty per cent more expensive than the MacDonald's mess we'd had back in Le Grau du-Rio.

After a further pleasant look around we made our way back to the railway station to catch our 16:18 train which was booked and paid for. The only problem was they withdrew the train which we only discovered after some pretty frantic studying of timetables, destination signs above train doors and questioning of the station staff. So instead we ended up on the 16:48 back to Epernay.

My darling Chef has had this evening off as we can't face another meal after those burgers, we've settled instead for a pastry and coffee. Have I mentioned I'm going back on the 5:2 when we get home?

3. Oct, 2022