Unconditional Surrender

Thursday, August 26, 2010 Day 57
We took an early train out of Paris this morning and headed for Reims in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. For part of the trip, we had an entire train compartment to ourselves. I was suffering a bit from my cold so I put my head down in Roger’s lap, stretched my legs across the other two seats and sacked out. Not the best nap I have had, but not the worst either.

My first impression of Reims was that it is a city undergoing construction. The main tourist area is rather torn up while tram lines are being repaired, upgraded and extended, and there are barricades everywhere, along with large sections of missing sidewalk and street.

Reims attained international fame when, at 2:41 on the morning of 7 May 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht, effectively ending World War II in Europe. Our first stop in Reims was a visit to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force where we viewed the war room in which the surrender was executed.

It was nearing noon by the time we left the war museum, so we headed toward the tourist area for lunch at a place Roger read about online. It was shortly before noon when we arrived, and when we entered, we were met with “avez-vous un reservation?” – have you a reservation? When we said no, the waiter said he couldn’t seat us unless, well, he had a table in the kitchen which he would show us and we could consider whether to eat there or not. He took us through and showed us a wooden table situated in a corner of the kitchen and ask us if we would be willing to sit there. We wondered between the two of us if we were so badly dressed, or looked so much like tourists that we were only fit for the kitchen! But we agreed to the table, and he told us we would have to come back in 15 minutes, as the restaurant doesn’t open until noon. We put our name down and left to explore a bit of the city. When we returned, we were shown to our table, which already had another couple seated at it. Our spot in the kitchen was actually in a workroom where the cold preparation took place. Two staff members worked industriously preparing salads and desserts in full view of us. We ate a delicious meal – Roger had osso buco with pasta, and I had large tube-shaped macaroni with pate de fois gras which was silky and quite delicious. We each had a glass of wine and dessert as well – Roger’s was strawberry artisanal ice cream on a meringue, and mine was a chocolate confection. Tasty!

After lunch, we strolled out to the champagne cellars of G.H. Mumm and took a tour. The champagne ages in the many caves and tunnels under Reims, which form a sort of maze below the city. Carved from chalk, some of these passages date back to Roman times. Mumm has 16 miles of tunnels and the cellars house 25 million bottles of champagne. Of course, the tour ended with a glass of champagne for each of us. I don’t have a nose for champagne, but this was pretty good nevertheless.

We returned to the main part of the city and walked to the cathedral. It was established in about CE 400 and was the victim of several fires (this seems to afflict a number of cathedrals) in the intervening centuries. It is famous as the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by the bishop of Reims, in CE 496.

The cathedral was badly damaged during World War I by German shellfire. Scaffolding around the north tower caught fire, spreading the blaze to all parts of the carpentry superstructure. The lead of the roofs melted and poured through the stone gargoyles, destroying the bishop's palace next door as well. Restoration work began in 1919 and continues to date. We entered the cathedral and viewed the trio of windows created by Marc Chagal as part of the restoration work.

We walked around the city a bit more, dropping into a confectionary shop for some more of that good artisanal ice cream – mango again for me, dark chocolate for Roger. Yum! Then it was time to head for the train station for our return to Paris. I managed to stay awake and enjoy the scenery for the journey back. We arrived back at Gare de l’Est on time and took the metro home. We must have looked tired, although I can’t say that I felt particularly exhausted, but a woman who looked about my age nudged her son and the two of them got up and offered us their seats! I started to decline, but she indicated that they were getting off at the next stop anyway, so we accepted. Sigh! We look old!!!!