Reims

Badly damaged during the WW1 when 80% of the town's buildings

were destroyed, Reims was spared during WW2.

The capitulation of the German forces on 7 May, 1945

was signed in Reims where General Eisenhower had his headquarters.

The Carnegie Library of Reims was built with money donated by businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to the city

of Reims after WW1. Built in the 1920s, the Art Deco decor

of the Carnegie Library, the harmony of its proportions,

the elegance of its architecture made it worthy of inclusion in

the French inventory of Monuments Historiques.

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Today the production of Champagne

remains one of the town's main activities.

This building was constructed by Champagne House

G.H.Mumm. The entrance suggests a gigantic wine barrel

and a frieze entirely composed of enamel mosaic tiles,

illustrates in detail all the steps of producing champagne.

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Notre-Dame Cathedral of Reims is

a Gothic art masterpiece, where, over the course of a millennium

(816 to 1825), twenty five kings chose the cathedral

as their coronation cathedral.

On July 17, 1429 when Charles VII was crowned King of France

in the Cathedral of Reims. Joan of Arc attended the ceremony.

It boasts exceptional statuary,

my particular favourite is the smiling angel.

The windows of Marc Chagall.

In 1974, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) created,

with the collaboration of the Jacques Simon Workshop,

three stained glass windows for the axial chapel of the Cathedral.

The city's artistic tradition is also maintained by the famous

stained-glass workshops which once employed the talents of

Villon, Ghagall, Braque and Da Silva.

I was disappointed to find that the workshops

are not open for visits.

Joan of Arc in the gardens outside the cathedral.

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Gallo-Roman Cryptoprticus

Built circa 200A.D. These partially buried galleries

located beneath the Gallo-Roman forum were once to store grain.

Only the eastern gallery has remained, but it is among the few

cryptoprticus of the Roman world to have been excavated.

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From the window of our hotel room we can see

the Fountaine Sube where a winged

Victory rises at the summit holding in her hand

a crown of laurels. She dominates

Place Drouet d'Erlon, named after one of Napoleon's

generals. It's lined with boutiques, bookstores,

a cinema, cafes, restaurants and bars.

Today we walked 9.8k's