Reims, Épernay and Belleau: Tuesday 9 June 2015

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Reims Cathedral is large, grand, and the place where French Kings were crowned. The English held Reims and the Cathedral for a period up until 1429 when it was liberated by Joan of Arc which allowed the Dauphin Charles to be crowned king in the Cathedral. The picture lower right, is Joan on horse back in front of the Cathedral, at the high point of her short career!

The Chapels behind the altar are decorated with modern stain glass designs.; a striking complement to the classic designs. Six windows were blown out by artillery in WW1.

 

 

 

 

We have twice visited Moët and Chandon in Eperney, and have enjoyed their style of tour. Their display centre was closed for renovations, so we went up the road to Mercier. I gained the clear impression that marketing has always been a strength of Mercier.

The Giant 200,000 bottle barrel in the foyer at Mercier was made in the 1880s. A huge undertaking, but one I suspect was impractical for champagne blending.

It was taken to the Paris World Trade Show in 1889; it took 8 days to be drawn by 24 oxen to Paris. Not only did trees need to be trimmed and villages circumnavigated, but buildings in the suburbs of Paris had to be bought and demolished to allow access. It was a star of the Show along with the Eiffel Tower. A balloon was tied to the barrel and special guests could sip champagne in the gondola!

Our tour was led by an elegant lady who looked as if she had just stepped off a Paris catwalk! The tour was high in marketing contend, low on serious information. But the champagne at the end was great!

 

The U.S. Military Cemetary at Aisne-Marne had closed its large and impressive gates and lowered their flags by the time we arrived at 1730 Hours. We sneaked around the side and I climbed on a wall to capture the photo (lower right).

It was Dedicated in1937, has 2,289 burials and 1,060 Missing in Action. It covers a beautifully kept 42.5 Acres.

 

Although much smaller than The U.S. Aisne-Marne Cemetory, the German Military Cemetery in Belleau holds four times the number of dead, some 4,307 in individual graves and 4,322 in two mass graves. The fallen hail exclusively from the collapse of Germany’s first and last offensives on the Western Front, separated by almost four years and millions of lives. Unlike the sunlit rows of crosses and stars at US Aisne-Marne, the German graves lie under a canopy. (Photo top right with the U.S. Cemetary just viewable behind.) Entry is available at all hours via a low unlocked fence.

The Cain on the left of the collage is a marker of greatest point of advance of the Germany Army in WW1 and are seen in many locations.