31st May, 2016 – Reims

Oiu c’est back! Mr Benn’s Blog is up and running once again with more tales of exotic travel and hotel rooms (less of the latter this time). This tour we are closer to home with a road trip round select bits of Europe. This is not a desperate attempt to get one last trip in before we exit the EU at which point it will, of course, be impossible to travel to the continent! And on that point, if you want to know what I think (and I can understand if you don’t give tinker’s cuss), see the video of Patrick Stewart on ‘What has the EU ever done for us’. No, this jaunt has all come about due to a wonderful invite from our good friend Nick to his villa in Tuscany – though we are not sure whether this will end up as enslaved labour toiling for days in the hot sun (I hope) in his olive grove or be a Tuscan loll round the pool. Both you and I will find out soon.

So this gave me the thought of why not make a trip of it and drive there. So that is what we are doing. I will keep you in suspense as to exactly where we are going, but not too surprisingly, first stop has been France. We set off at a fairly leisurely pace this morning driving through the rain on the Ms25, 26 and 20 arriving nicely on time for the 1120 shuttle under la Manche, emerging into the equally dull weather on the other side in Calais.

It was straight off for our first stop – Reims. No detours on my tours! To be honest, I have been to Calais, as one does, and I was both disappointed and strangely pleased that the French can build ghastly architecture just like us. We did stop for a quick pique-nique at an aire in traditional Benn style – tuna fish sandwich and gala pie for me and Val made her way through a tarte from Sainsbury’s and a salad whilst watched the rain through the windscreen in the carpark. Bring back Thailand!

We arrived in Reims at about 4.15 local time to be greeted by the charming Catherine at her really lovely house. Where is the hotel, you ask? Or is Catherine an old family friend? No, dear readers, shock/horror, we are using Airbnb!! And if the first stop is anything to go by, it is going to be great. We have a lovely room and our hostess has been very helpful. So I can recommend it so far. More to come though, so we must not rush to judgement too quickly.

We then did a quick tour of the city. Reims (pronounced like the French pronunciation of prince without the p) is most famous I would think for having the cathedral in which most French kings were crowned and for being the capital of the Champagne area. So our first stop was at the local champagne shop to place an order for pick up tomorrow and our second stop was the cathedral. The former was most impressive, not least for showing up my dreadful lack of knowledge on matters champenoise. I had not realised how many varieties there are! If only we had more time…..

The cathedral is stunning. a tall, stately Gothic structure with some lovely stained glass, in particular the magnificent rose window on the front – sadly obscured by restoration scaffolding!!! Anyway, a few pics to give you a feel – first of all the outside. The statuary was stunning (and no jokes, please about who’s the gargoyle with the hat?!).

And now the interior. It was plainer than I thought it would be for a cathedral where kings are crowned, but still majestic for all that. Val always likes to light a candle for the family – but I didn’t have any change, so she lit 5!

And finally some stained glass. No rose window, sadly but some fabulous windows by Marc Chagall (the bluey-green ones) and some nice other modern windows as well by someone else whose name I did not get!

Well, that’s all for now. More tomorrow – all comments welcomed!