Reims

Today we are in Reims, probably the largest town in the area. It’s a 40 minuet journey to get there. Getting into the town and parking is fairly easy, we find a space near the Cathedral.

Reims is a city of the Champagne-Ardenne région of northern France, standing 144 km  east-northeast of Paris. It was founded by the Gauls and became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.

Reims played a very important role in French history, as it was the place where the kings of France were crowned. The most famous and cherished of these events was the coronation of Charles VII in the company of Joan of Arc. Thus, the Cathedral of Reims (damaged by the Germans during the First World War but restored since) played the same role in France as Westminster Abbey did in England. It was there that was kept the Holy Ampulla (Sainte Ampoule) containing the Saint Chrême (chrism), which was said to have been brought by a white dove (the Holy Spirit) at the baptism of Clovis in 496, and was used for the anointing, the most important part of the coronation of French kings.

Reims is often considered as the capital of Champagne, an old province of France, world-famous for its sparkling wine (Champagne) because it is by far the largest city in the region.

At the 1999 census, there were 187,206 inhabitants (Rémoises (feminine) and Rémois) in the city of Reims proper (the commune), while there were 291,735 inhabitants in the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine).

We’ve not had breakfast so we stop at a coffee shop and have a snack before finding the tourist office. Susan had done some research on the web and we decided that the best option was to rent an audio guide and do the walking tour.

We start at the Cathedral

 

It’s currently undergoing refurbishment so I have cropped the scaffolding out.

Headless statues

The dogs had their own audio guide but they didn’t like to share!

This is the Tau Palace, no idea what the plastic banana skins are all about.

The Carnegie Library, Reims has very strong American ties, it is twinned with Arlington, VA home to the FBI training academy.

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born American industrialist, businessman, and a major philanthropist. He was an immigrant as a child with his parents. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which was later merged with Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company and several smaller companies to create U.S. Steel. With the fortune he made from business, he turned to philanthropy and interests in education, founding the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

While Carnegie paid his employees the low wages typical of the time, he later gave away most of his money to fund the establishment of many libraries, schools, and universities in America, United Kingdom and other countries, as well as a pension fund for former employees. He is often regarded as the second richest man in history. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe.

Steel was where he made his fortune. In the 1870s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company, a step which cemented his name as one of the “Captains of Industry”. By the 1890s, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world. Carnegie sold it to J.P. Morgan in 1901, who created US Steel. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, and education and scientific research.

This building is in the Art Deco style, popular in the 1940’s and one of many Art Deco buildings in Reims.

The Chevet of the Notra Dame Cathedral

The Place Royal

The Town Hall

The above 3 photographs are of a Former Jules Mumm champagne factory, the photographs along the top depict the various process involved in making champagne.

The inside of an old concrete market, it has been declared a national monument. I have no idea why as it was built in the 1960’s and is absolutely hideous, it reminds me of Cumbernauld.

The back of the cathedral.

We handed back the guide, it had taken about 3 hours and was very interesting. Reims is probably the nicest placed we have been around here, that does not mean much though! We had a bit of lunch and headed back to the hotel. Firstly we went to Carrefour (again), we need some meat as the dogs need to take a worm tablet at the vet and we need to roll it in something to make them take it.

We went back to the hotel and brushed them then went to the vet. It was no hassle, 20 mins , 44 euros and a few signatures in the passport. We’re free to leave the country on Saturday.

I liked the notice board in the vet, various animals for sale and even a marriage proposal, I suspect that means for breeding.

We had a drink at McDonalds then back to the hotel for an episode of “one Foot in the Grave”, we’ll head out and eat a little later on.