2 February 2024 – Reims

Miles driven today = 107

Total Miles to date = 328

It was a grey and rather misty morning as we set out from Arras.  The land was flat and we could barely see the central hubs of the wind turbines in the gloom, let alone the tops of the spinning blades.  The temperature stoically remained at a chilly 5 degrees.  We made a quick Aldi stop at Bapaume and skirted around Peronne as the skies cleared a little and the scenery around the Somme Valley became more undulating.

We pondered diverting onto the tolled A26 for a few miles to avoid the St Quentin traffic but our passage through the town turned out to be stress free and we continued around Laon and its impressive hilltop Cathedral.  Following a quick sandwich stop we were shortly pulling into our destination at Reims.

Architecturally the main attraction here is the glorious 13th Century gothic Cathedral.  It is a hugely significant building in French history, given no less than 26 Kings have been crowned here.

To the right of this group of statues at the entrance is one of a number of restored enigmatically smiling angels.

Inside, the monumental scale of the Cathedral is as vast as one would expect of such a significant building in France.

The main attraction are the stained glass windows, including this impressive display above the main entrance.

This Chapel is dedicated to Joan of Arc who was instrumental in the coronation of Charles VII here in 1429, at a time when France was largely under English rule.  The windows here are much more modern in their design.

These windows were created by the artist Marc Chagrall in 1971.  The production included techniques which would have been utilized in the 13th Century, giving the windows their blue background hue.

There were a couple of other interesting attractions that we fancied having a look at in the vicinity of the Cathedral.  The Palais du Tau has more of the impressive statues salvaged from the Cathedral to prevent their erosion, together with tapestries and Royal regalia.  But it was shut for renovation work.  Similarly, as you can see, the Fine Art Museum has been largely demolished with its contents placed into storage while rebuilding work takes place.

So, we decided to take ourselves off for a wander around the town centre to see what other delights this place has to offer.

Reims is the primary town of the Champagne region and there are plenty of shops selling the bubbly stuff.  We resisted, although we did buy a bag of rather overpriced almond macaroons in this particular establishment.

The Palais de Justice, or Courthouse to you and me, reminded me of Buckingham Palace.

The statue in the middle of Place Royale used to be of Louis XV dressed in Roman clothing.  This was destroyed during the French Revolution and subsequently replaced by a similar one of the sculptor Pierre Cartellier posing as the King.

The Cryptoportico was part of a Roman Forum which is thought to have been constructed around the 1st or 2nd centuries AD.

Hotel Le Verger houses a private museum.  We didn’t go in but we did have a wander around the free to enter gardens.

The grandiose Hotel de Ville de Reims.  Lisa asked if I was treating her.  Some other time perhaps!

We walked through a lovely old glass roofed shopping arcade which had loads of fabulously niche little shops selling all manner of goods.  At the end was this Venetian Carousel next to the Church of Saint Jacques.

Finally before we headed back to the van for a well deserved brew, Place Drouet d’Erlon with the Fontaine de la Solidarite in the foreground and beyond that Fontaine Sube, which reminded me of a shiny Eros in Piccadilly Circus.

Tonight we are enjoying our first freebie stopover of the trip.  We are in a section of the car park at the futuristic looking Stade de Reims, which is specifically reserved for motorhomes on any night when there isn’t a match on.  Reims are at home to Toulouse in Ligue 1 on Sunday but we are good for tonight.

We had this huge German all-terrain vehicle parked up next to us for a while this afternoon.  She’s an absolute beauty and perfect for a muddy Glastonbury but I hate to think what their diesel bill must be like. 

3 February 2024 - Troyes