Previously...
After breakfast, we headed toward
Rheims, our objective for the day,
winding our way gently through the southern
Ardennes from
Sedan. We stopped
at various villages on the way, looking at the
churches and so on. We got to
Rheims about lunchtime, and ate at a café in an ugly modern shopping
centre which looked like a bunch of
Swiss chalets. Opposite the shops was the
site of our first visit: the
Basilica of
St Remy, the
archbishop of Rheims
who baptised
Clovis, King of the
Franks. The present building in about a
thousand years old, and stands on the site of a monastery which dates back to
Roman times. We spent an hour in the church, marvelling at the architecture
and the skill in rebuilding - the church was gutted by shelling in
1917. The
church forms part of a
World Heritage site, along with the
Cathedral and the
Palais du Tau, both of which we had seen on a visit last year, and the
Musée St Rémi, which is where we went next.
The Museum holds a vast collection of material from
prehistoric times down to
the
Renaissance, and is housed in the rebuilt cloisters of the abbey. We spent
a fascinating couple of hours wandering around it, looking at
Roman pillars
carved with the images of
syncretic Celtic deities, medieval statues
recovered from shelled buildings, and relics of the city's
Christian heritage
over the past 1700 years. Of particular interest at the
Basilica had been a wall covered with diamond-shaped medieval stones with leaded pictures of bible scenes on. In the museum I found a stone from the set which I realised had been missing from the wall in the church: the destruction of
Sodom.
Then we moved on, through the steady rain, to the
Piper-Heidseick champagne
'caves' - extensive cellars running beneath the streets of the city. Although
not part of the extensive
Gallo-Roman and
Medieval catacombs incorportated
into some of the other firms' cellars, the Heidseick complex is nevertheless
over two hundred years old in part. An electric '
gondola' car took us through
the passages, where the history and technique of champagne production is
illustrated with an impressive light and sound display. Piper-Heidseick is
Hollywood's favourite champagne, and part of the exhibition consisted of
signed photographs of film stars past and present drinking the product or
visiting the cellars. Our fellow-passengers in the car were an
American
couple, and after the tour was over, we all sat and tasted champagne together
and chatted. Eventually, we had to walk back to the car and return to
Sedan
for dinner, which was again pleasant.
Subsequently...