After a generally uneventful week, I got to take a day off from city living and ventured out into Reims, a small(ish) town about 2 hours outside of Paris. This was sweetened by the fact that the day trip was provided by the Sweetbriar (no pun intended) program, which meant that I got to hang out with all my American friends who will be leaving me here almost all by myself in just a few short weeks. Also, I didn't have to spend much in the way of money. So it was totally a win-win trip. We got to visit a gorgeous cathedral, have some real champagne straight from the source, and visit the cutest outdoor Christmas market. I may have been freezing my little Texas behind off most of the time, but I sure had a blast!
First, a little history. This is the Reims cathedral, originally constructed in the 13th century and reconstructed after the first World War mainly through the efforts of an American named Mr. Megabigbucks (also known as Mr. Rockefeller). The cathedral serves as a wonderful example of Gothic architecture with renovations and additions in the style of each of the eight centuries through which it has lived. It looks all Roman Catholic and very hoity-toity High Church-like, but it's a really great example of religion changing to suit the times. I'm not saying they installed central heating or anything, that'll probably have to wait until Hell freezes over, but they have incorporated pieces of artwork from many different periods. It gives the cathedral character and tells the story of the building in a really interesting way.
This is my up-close and personal shot, before actually going inside. During the first World War in the early 20th century, Reims was bombed and the Cathedral nearly destroyed. If you look closely at this photo, you can see which parts are from the original construction and which are from the 1920s and '30s. Hint: the new stuff is lighter and creamier (on the left), the older stuff is darker and almost tarnished-looking. The Cathedral is decorated with more than 3,000 statues on the outside alone. Once you get up close, you can see hundreds of little figurines, all with some sort of cultural or religious meaning. It's pretty amazing.
The Cathedral was built on the site of the basilica where King Clovis was baptised and buried around 400 A.D. Several churches have existed in the intervening years, most of them centered around this final resting place of the first real French King. I always thought "Clovis" didn't seem like a very French name; our tour guide at the Cathedral pointed out that the Roman "V" changed to a "U" later, and the "C" was dropped at some point, making a much more French-sounding name: Louis (as in King Louis I-XVIII). It all makes so much more sense now!
These are the two rose windows that hang above the entrance. I don't really have any fun historical snippets about them, except that they're positively gorgeous!
Here is one of the newer additions to the Cathedral. These windows, located in one of the smaller chapels near the nave, were put in during the post-war renovation. They are done in a water-color-like style, very different from what you see in other Gothic Cathedrals. I loved them because they're beautiful, of course, but also because they're so unexpected in this sort of environment.
This is back outside the Church, look at all these beautiful flying buttresses. A flying buttress, just FYI, is the term for the beautiful arches connected to the columns that stand a little ways away from the main construction, in between the windows. They're gorgeous, but they also have an architectural function. They keep the outer walls from buckling under the weight of the roof and stuff, allowing for all of those beautiful windows. Flying buttresses were pretty revolutionary for the 13th century, so they're sort of a big deal.
Here's the outdoor Christmas market. It was on this pedestrian street about half a mile long (possibly a little longer), with these adorable little Christmas-y booths selling everything from street food to jewelry, pottery, clothes, etc. Pretty much anything you could give as a Christmas gift, plus a million more little things. There was hot wine and cider (hard cider, of course; none of that wussy non-alcoholic stuff for the French!) I didn't have any, but some of the people I was with had it and said it was good. And there was pretty much every kind of pastry you could think of. In general, Christmas shopping heaven. But I should also probably add that it was crazy cold. I was wearing five layers on top and three layers on bottom, and I was still freezing my behind off. But it was so totally worth it.
After we finished up at the market, we headed over to the champagne cellar for a tour. Reims is located in the Champagne region of France, meaning that all the champagne consumed in the world comes from this region. If it isn't made in the region, it isn't champagne. It's just sparkling wine. Obviously, this cellar isn't the only manufacturer of champagne, but they do make an enormous amount of it and send it all over the world.
Here's the view from the top of the stairs going down into the cellar. They've been making champagne here since the 1800s, so there's no elevator or anything, and only one way in and out: up and down these stairs. After we went down the stairs, we got to look all around the cellar while the tour guide told us about the process and history of champagne making. I missed a lot of what the guide said, but that was less due to the fact that she was speaking French and more to the fact that I don't really know anything about wine or champagne or fermentation or any of the rest of it. If she had been speaking in English I probably wouldn't have understood much either. But here's what I did get. The best champagne is fermented for about ten years. Any more than ten to thirteen years and any less than two to three years and the quality starts to go. To make it, you pretty much take wine, add some yeast, then leave it alone for a few years. After the dead yeast is removed, voilà! You have champagne! Don't you sorta wish you didn't know that?
This is the view from one of the cellars deep under ground. To be honest, it made me feel a little claustrophobic to be so far from the surface. After we climbed back to the surface, we got to taste some champagne and hang out for a little while. I'm not a big drinker, especially when it comes to alcohol or fizzy drinks, but I will say that it was pretty good. I am definitely more of a red wine type of girl. The best part for me was just getting to hang out and talk with friends over a little champagne. We had a blast. Funniest part for me was when the talk came around to weddings (because everyone talks about weddings when there's champagne around), and there was an in-depth conversation about in which order the six of us would get married. Personally, I don't think I'm old enough to even be thinking about that; I'm so not even close to there yet, but Claire is practically engaged, so whatever. But my friends here know me so well. It was decided that I might meet someone in the next three or four years, but I'd be one of the last of us to wed because I'd date him for at least five years before I'd even consider tying the knot, and run every type of background check available at the time. And that's probably right on the money. I can't believe that most of them are leaving me here all alone in a few weeks.
Well the weekend out of the city was great, and it looks like I'll be having some fun with everyone as the semester draws to a close. The ice skating rink in the Eiffel Tower opens in a few weeks, I'm planning out my Scottish-English Christmas and New Years, and I'm really excited to see Anna Karenina with a friend when it comes out this week. I hear it's pretty great; I just finished reading it yet again, so I'm totally psyched to see it on the big screen. I'll let you all know how it goes. Well that's all I have this week. À bientôt!
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