REIMS, France

Chagall windows  Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims

Another view of the cathedral interior

Having been born and raised in Southern California I find the weather here different from what I’m accustomed to.  An example would be what we went through recently.  We had sunshine and heat accompanied by high humidity.  Then dark clouds appeared. We had lightning, thunder, an amazing downpour, and then we started all over again.  The reason I mention the weather is because it has slowed us down.  Tom and Julian would prefer not running the boat during these electrical storms.  I can’t say as I blame them.  Standing outside with lightning all around is cause for concern. The rain (and sometimes hail) makes things uncomfortable.  The storms continue to attack us with a ferocity we simply do not experience in Southern California.

Going for a walk

It is a shock returning to civilization.  That’s what it feels like after being on the River Aisne.  Leisurely cruising while listening to the birds singing and watching them flit from tree to tree, admiring the infinite colors of green, seeing the ripples on the water…and then this morning we walked into the local village to get our baguette.  Traffic!  Noisy cars were whizzing by as we walked along the edge of the road.  We grabbed our baguette and quickly returned to the magic of the waterways.  Even with the drone of our engine and whine of our rudder it is infinitely more peaceful than the cities and towns with all their people.  

A view on a walk

Can someone please explain why our deck is covered with thousand of dead bugs?  We are experiencing many aspects of ”nature” while cruising.  Bugs I could do without.

We have returned to Reims, the champagne capital of France.  For bubbleheads like us it’s like visiting a little slice of heaven on earth.  We found the wine shop we used last year.  They were so nice and helpful we returned.  This time we purchased champagne.  They are located in an old cave!  First we walked along an old cobbled driveway.  Then we went down an ancient stone stairway, ducking so we didn’t bump our heads.  The champagne was down another steep set of stairs.  I wish I had thought to take some pictures.  The employee who helped us was a lovely young woman with beautiful blue eyes who spoke English!  She remembered our being there last year.  She was willing to deliver the champagne, which meant we could buy more!

After the wine shop we went to the cheese shop.  The owner pointed out that he did NOT carry supermarket types of cheese.  His were from little boutique cheese makers.  We made good progress that day.  We had started by finding the light fixture store where we bought lights last year for our kitchen and living/dining room.  We needed an additional kitchen light and I wanted it to match what we had.  He carried the same fixtures so we carried off with us our new light.

The next day we were pleased to have unexpected visitors.  Our accountant was in Paris with his wife and son and had been following Tom’s blog (www.authortommiller.com).  We planned for them to take the train to Reims and spend a day with us.  Unfortunately there was a train strike.  Instead of arriving in the morning they didn’t arrive in Reims until 2 pm.  They then came to the boat for lunch.  We couldn’t take them on any champagne house tours because the English tours were all at 2:30.  After our champagne lunch aboard Rabelo we walked around Reims, did a champagne tasting and they then returned to Paris.

Lars, Eric and Stephanie having lunch aboard Rabelo

While in Reims we tied up on a canal with a beautiful park on the other side.  The people of Reims get great use from their parks.  They are walking, running, biking, fishing, swimming (seriously), and playing with dogs and children.  It is a beautiful picture.

Very occasionally we find these relics.

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