Bonjour mes amis! Friday evening, after finishing my orientation sessions, Lee and I traveled via TGV to Reims, with its beautiful Gothic cathedral and champagne caves. Reims is where champagne first bubbled and where 26 French kings were crowned. World War I devastated Reims yet miraculous reconstruction occurred afterwards during the Art Deco age. Reims is also the city where the Germans officially surrendered in 1945, bringing World War II to an end. The cathedral of Reims, begun in 1211, is a wonderful example of Gothic architecture. This cathedral has perhaps the best west portal anywhere with 2,000 statues decorating its walls, inside and out. This church is also dedicated to "Our Lady"(Notre Dame). Flying buttresses soar from the sides of the church. Some of the stained glass windows show the connection of the town to the local Champagne-makers, since they helped to replace windows destroyed by World War I. Scenes on certain windows depict the tending of vines, the harvest, and the double fermentation process. After we toured the cathedral we walked to one of the most popular champagne caves in Reims, called Mumm. We had a fascinating tour of Mumm, with its industrial-size chalk cellars where 25 million bottles are stored. The tour ended with a glass of bubbly. C'était délicieux!
Mme. Wallace
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