Around the World in 180 Days: June 11-13: Reims, France

We had originally planned to go to Reims so we could see a smaller city in France. It is also the capital of the Champagne region. We checked into our elevator-less hotel and were inconveniently placed on the fourth floor. The hotel, because it is small and family run, gave us a code, written on a slip of paper, to use to get into the front door if we return late at night. We got back a bit late the first night and of course had forgotten the tiny slip of paper. We tried ringing the bell, but no one came, and we began to get very distraught. A man came up behind us and miraculously was staying at the hotel and let us in. The next morning, the owner of the hotel was clearly upset with us and even though he spoke only a few words in English, managed to comment on our leaving the paper in the room. The rest of our stay was a bit tense.

Reims has a Notre Dame cathedral where every king of the time was crowned. It is very beautiful but clearly crumbling, and is in the process of being restored. Jeff and I discussed how it’s great to restore these buildings, to keep them standing for many years to come, but that eventually the building only becomes a replica of the original, standing in exactly the same place, and loses much of the historical value.

We intended to go champagne tasting but unfortunately it wasn’t very feasible on our backpacker budget. We thought it was much better to go to a grocery store and buy a bottle to do our own tasting. We deliberated for a long five minutes about which bottle to get and finally decided on a classy looking one from the area and was conveniently priced at four euro. We got together some things for a picnic and, because it was drizzly, picnicked in our hotel room. Sadly, the “champagne” turned out to be a sweet after-dinner liqueur. Major bummer. But the rest of the picnic was lovely!