Unexcused Absences France 2014 - Week 6 Recap (he said)

France 2014 – Week 6 Recap (he said)

by Kent 19 Aug 2014

Sunday morning in Reims we visited the Basilique Saint-Remi, named after the bishop who started the trend of French kings being coronated in Reims by baptizing Clovis in 496 AD. That afternoon we took the Cathédrale Notre-Dame roof tour, which was possibly the best way we’ve ever spent 7.50 Euros (other than maybe on a wheel of Epoisses cheese). After climbing the 249 spiral steps we reached a balcony between the north and south towers. Today this area contains several 15-foot-tall, 8-ton statues of various kings and bishops. When you have too many statues to display at ground level, I guess.

Basilique Saint-Remi

The Reims Cathedral suffered numerous times throughout its 800+ year history. The most egregious damage began when it was hit by shellfire on Sept 19, 1914, during the Great War. This set the wood roof on fire, which melted the lead casing and damaged the stonework. Over the next four years the building was hit by more than 300 shells from the German army occupying the forts on the outskirts of the city. The only thing keeping the structure upright during this assault was the outstanding design and assembly work from the early 13th century.

Cathédrale de Reims

The most amazing thing about the roof tour, not so ironically, was the roof. During the cathedral’s reconstruction during the mid 20th century, which was funded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the original wood trusses were replaced with 1200 tons of ribs made with reinforced concrete. The ribs in turn support 400 tons of lead cladding. The tour follows a walkway right down the transept, in between the concrete ribs above and the top of the cathedral’s vaults below. No other “roof tour” we’ve ever taken gives you this inside look at the construction techniques.

Roof tour – in between the vaulted ceiling and the roof

The cathedral also had a photo exhibit from the time around the Great War when both Reims and the cathedral were bombed and burned. Some sobering numbers; at the start of the war Reims had 13,806 houses, yet by Armistice a little over four years later, 8,625 had been completely destroyed, 5164 were badly damaged, and only 17 remained unscathed.

Reims Cathedral after WW I

Reims the town predates Roman times; a tribe called the Remi based their capital on the site of the current city. During Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul in the mid ’50’s BC, the tribe allied itself with the Romans and came to be favored by the imperial power. Later, Reims became a favorite target of invaders. Over the centuries, the town has been sacked by the Vandals in 406 AD and Attila the Hun in 451 (you’re nobody unless you’ve been sacked by the Huns), was briefly ceded to the English in 1420, brought back into the French realm by Joan of Arc in 1429, taken by Henri IV in 1590, anti-Napoleonic armies in 1814, the Prussians/Germans in 1871, the Germans again in 1914 and the Germans one final time during WW II. Ultimately Reims was the place where, at 2:41am on May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the German army’s unconditional surrender, ending World War II in Europe. But everybody is friends now; Reims is “twinned” with the German city of Aachen, famous as the place of coronation for German kings.

Roman-era Mars Gate

Monday we topped off the bread supplies with two delicious baguettes tradition from 114 Rue Gambetta in Reims. We then cruised about five hours to the junction where the Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne meets the Canal latéral à l’Aisne at Berry-au-Bac. On the way we were waiting at a lock for a boat coming the other direction, and as the doors opened we saw that it was an English-style “wide” narrowboat (?) named Renaissance. Just as I remarked to Heather that we know that boat, a head popped out the helm station and said “Hey, Yank!” We first met them three years ago in Joigny, on the Yonne River, and have crossed paths a few times since, but always going in opposite directions. So we don’t actually know each other’s names. But each time we see them we always get a hearty “Hey, Yank!” from the captain.

A young Danish family on a 3-month canal trip – by catamaran kayak

Tuesday we passed through the final lock of the Aisne-Marne canal, then turned right (east) and followed the Aisne RIver to Asfeld, which is home to the wackiest church in France. Because this area suffered so much destruction during both world wars, many (most) of the churches have been built during the past century, in some cases in very, um, imaginative styles. This one takes the cake, although amazingly it was built in the late 17th century and actually survived both wars completely intact. From the air it resembles a viola, supposedly so that prayers ascending to heaven might be accompanied by music (this from the history plaque).

The non-standard 17th century church in Asfeld

When the Count of Avaux needed a to rebuild the church in his stronghold of Ecry, he hired a Dominican monk and architect named François Romain, famous for designing the Pont Royal bridge in Paris. He constructed the building entirely of curved bricks, and it houses the congregation in a five-sided rotunda. There is not a single straight line in the church. All shapes, both horizontal and vertical, are beautiful curves. Each brick was fabricated as either concave or convex. It is completely, and utterly, unique.

Inside is more like a Las Vegas wedding chapel

Wednesday the Canal de l’Aisne became the Canal des Ardennes (in name only; there was no indication other than in the guidebook that we had changed canals), and we continued upstream to Rethel, a large town in the south-west Ardennes département. We found a terrific restaurant called Au Sanglier Des Ardennes (roughly, “wild boar of the Ardennes”), and ate an amazing meal that included the local specialty sausage called boudin blanc. The following morning was our first street market since Chalons-en-Champagne several weeks ago, and we took full advantage, loading up on fresh vegetables, fruit (the peaches have been amazing this season), and some boudin blanc to try cooking ourselves.

Rethel town hall

The church in Rethel has had quite a history, and has taken an inordinate amount of abuse and rebuilding over the centuries. It originally dates from the 12th century, and has been restored in bits and pieces using whatever style was in vogue at the time. The west gate has square doors in the 13th century design, but the south gate is from the 16th century and reflects the architecture of that era. Then in the 17th century the bell tower was demolished, and rebuilt in 17th century style. During the French revolution the building was damaged and converted into stables. Then during WW II both the church and the town around it were destroyed by fire, and its roof collapsed during the winter of 1940-41. Amazingly, the only time the church wasn’t damaged was during WW I, when most of the surrounding countryside was completely devastated. And on top of all this, the church boasts two complete (and parallel) choirs and naves.

Twin choirs in the Saint-Nicolas church, Rethel

After the market Thursday we moved east to Attigny, where we found our first decent bread in 3 days (the two best boulangerie in Rethel were both closed for summer vacation, and neither Asfeld nor Berry-au-Bac had good ones). The shade trees lining the quai were beautiful but unnecessary, because for the past few days the temperature has not risen above 70 degrees F. Ah, mid-summer in France. A fuel station and small supermarket near the port were very useful, because east of here the Canal des Ardennes passes through several days of extremely rural countryside.

A rare navigational decision on the canals; we took the lock on the left

Friday we continued east and began our ascent up a 27-lock staircase towards the summit of the Canal des Ardennes. We stopped part way up the flight, at Neuville-Day, a gorgeous spot at the foot of a village between locks 19 and 20. The surrounding countryside was very scenic, but any shops in the village (including the restaurant adjacent to the lock) closed years ago and probably a third of the houses were for sale.

Village of Neuville-Day, Canal des Ardennes

Saturday morning we cycled back a few km to Semuy, home to an obscure but amazing WW II museum. A lock keeper became interested in the war about 40 years ago, when he was 12 years old, and began amassing guns, bullets, grenades, mortars, radios, uniforms – basically anything related to the battles of May/June 1940 that raged in the countryside here. He set up an astounding display in a huge barn on his father’s property, and now he and his father give tours of the museum to history buffs during the summer. No kidding, he must have had 10,000 items on display.

One small corner of the vast barn full of WW II artifacts

That afternoon we finished climbing the staircase, and parked at Le Chesne, a small village in the middle of its annual summer carnival. The streets and squares around the canal were packed with carnival rides, junk-food vendors (now we know that “cotton candy” in French is “barbe à papa,” or “dad’s beard”), and a portable “disco” stage complete with flashing lights and multiple disco balls. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately), the music was not actually disco but tended more towards the club/house/euro-techno. The only drawback is that the “music” continued until 3am. They had turned the amps up to eleven. And did I mention the stage was right next to the boat? But that’s ok, it was all part of this week’s fun in rural north-east France.

France 2014 Week 6 Numbers