Sightseeing in Rheims, France

• Report rights infringement
• published: 04 Sep 2011
• views: 3643

Our journey to Reims began with a scenic morning drive through the countryside of France in the heart of the Champagne-Ardenne region. Reims (often written Rheims in English, and pronounced like "Rance") is a city of over 200,000 inhabitants in the north-eastern France. Following the creation of a new high-speed railway in June 2007 the city can be reached from Paris within 45 minutes. It is best known for its cathedral and as a center for champagne production. Here we visited a most beautiful cathedral, once the traditional site for the crowning of Kings of France, the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Reims, built in 1211. It is a major achievement of Gothic art with 2,303 statues, with a nave height of 38 meters, and the height of the two façade towers is 81.50 meters. Its façade is the finest portion of the building, and one of the most perfect masterpieces of the Middle Ages. The central portal, dedicated to the Virgin, is surmounted by a rose-window framed in an arch itself decorated with statuary. Russian painter Marc Chagall's work can also be admired in the cathedral through the stained glasses later installed at the back, and on the side of the cathedral. Next to the cathedral is the Palais du Tau, the residence of the Kings of France before their coronation in Notre-Dame de Reims. The King was dressed for the coronation at the palace before proceeding to the cathedral; afterwards, a banquet was held at the palace. The first recorded coronation banquet was held at the palace in 990, and the most recent in 1825. Visitors can see some of the original statues from the cathedral, items connected with the coronations, and a set of ancient tapestries. The Palace of Tau, together with the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the former Abbey of Saint-Remi, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. Other historic buildings we visited included the Opera House, the Palace of Justice, the Saint-Remi Museum, and of course the Bibliotheque. Here we had lunch at Reds Asian Fusion, a café restaurant in the city center, where we had shrimp sauteed in Szechuan sauce, fried shrimp rice, and an assortment of Chinese dimsums/siomai, egg rolls (lumpia), brochettes (chicken barbecue), and lychees in syrup for dessert (for only 18 euros, with every bite worth its value, if compared with restaurant food in Paris). At 2pm, we proceeded to Luxembourg, a journey of 2-3 hours.