Thursday, October 3, 2013
Being one who is always easy going and can quickly adapt to changes in plan (ha - not!), I suggested to Sarah that we replace our bank time with some more of my (well hers too) favorite activity: coffee and wifi. Off to the Comptoire de la Licorne for a coffee and wifi (which I actually when I got to upload my last post). We had our Wifi and then went to visit Phillippe where Monica (the Italian) was using the wifi. From there Sarah wanted to go to the grocery store to get some lunch, and since she has a car, off we went. Lunch purchased, it was back to Talon to finish packing our bags and eat. Once everything was done we walked back to the train station to buy our tickets to go to Reims, a whopping 5 euros and 40 centimes (exactly half off) due to my carte 12/25, which celebrates the fact that I am still so young and beautiful. Well by the time we had our tickets we had just enough time to go back to the Orion to visit Phillipppe, prendre un verre (get a drink) and avail ourselves of wifi and the outside world.
Phillippe was pleased, as always, to see us, and he called me over to the bar with my laptop so I could show him where I’m from. He had lots of questions and honestly seems very interested in my life in the States. I guess it’s reassuring to find somebody who still looks at America with some degree of respect, especially as our government goes bad and we put ourselves more and more behind the eight ball.
Champs chez Phillippe
Well finally it was time to head back to la gare (the train station) and take off for Reims for our orientation programme. We got off in Reims thirty minutes later and Clark decided he wanted to take the tram because he’d injured his ankle earlier in the day. Well, being the (wannabe) Parisian and wanting to imbibe myself of this new city, I chose to walk to the hostel (yes, I did just use that word) where we were being housed. It was about a 20 minute walk and I loved every minute of it. Reims is beautiful. It reminded me Bordeaux (see my post from 2011 about Bordeaux) but was mostly constructed in the 20s and 30s following severe damage of “La Guerre 14-18” (otherwise called the first World War). It also had people on the street, stores, and was sort of bustling, unlike Chalons.
Oh my god! Look! People! Stores! Life! Activity! Reims!
We arrived at the hostel just in time for the opening ceremony, about which NOBODY knew. It was on none of our schedules. We knew about things on Tuesday and Wednesday, but nothing was written about Monday. Apparently neither did the majority of the other 60 or so assistants who were in the process of showing up at the same time. Anyway, we had our opening session, were sent off to dinner, and then went out carousing on the town. Holy cow! Night life! People! Young people! Everywhere! What a change from Chalons! I hardly knew what to think. I had forgotten that, in the rest of the civilized world (aka anywhere outside of Chalons), you could out to get a drink after 8:30 at night. It almost seemed other worldly.
Once the culture shock wore off it was time to get down to business meeting the other assistants. Due to facebook, I’d already “met” a handful of the other assistants and had “crept” a few others. Now it was time to use old fashioned social skills to meet them face to face. Since many of use shared common interests (France and wine) and were seeking many of the same things (namely socialization and wifi) it was a fairly successful evening. We were out until 1 or so in the morning and had a fairly good time. I’d say those people were few and far between and in general I look forward to seeing a handful of these people again in the future.
As a disclaimer I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the accommodations afforded by the auberge de jeunesse (hostel). The food was tiresome, but the bedrooms were clean - as far as I could tell - and decent. My biggest complaint would definitely be the pillows. I could only compare them those those strange cylinder-like pillows you see sometimes in advertisements. You know, the kind that look really cool on very square couches, but always leave you wondering how useful they really are. Well these were useless. They may as well have been filled with straw or newspaper… or left empty. Anyway, I didn’t sleep much the first night. And what sleep I did get was hardly decent.
Day two was pretty boring - lots of talking and lots of sitting. I don’t have much to say other than the fact that I will someday have a French social security number, find Germans more amusing that I should, and am the (proud?) owner of a briefcase provided by the MGEN. What’s the MGEN you ask? It’s the socialized health care program. I wonder if there will someday be Obamacare briefcases to pass out to assistants from other countries?
Anyway, the excitement of the day (for me) really was the visit and guided tour of the Cathedral of Reims, one of the most important cathedrals of France. Why is this church so important? Well it was, for centuries, the official coronation church of the French monarchy. From the exterior it’s really quite impressive but, like most churches in France, unfinished. In fact, it’s quite a ways from being finished: the two spires on the facade of the church are only just started, and the five additional towers intended for the building have not yet been realized. What makes this church very interesting, however, is that they’re still working on it and doing some really cool things.
The façade
Unlike Notre Dame de Paris, the porch (which covers the three entrance doors) of Notre Dame de Reims actually projects into the square, giving the impression of the church actually extending into the public sphere. This architectural details isn’t especially rare, but it is quite noticeable after having just recently seen Notre Dame de Paris. Unfortunately it wasn’t exactly clear to me what was left of the original church but the Reims cathedral has been heavily restored, but given what I later learned, I’m going to say that not much of the original building remains.
What we often forget when we visit these incredible buildings is that they are nearly a thousand years old, in the case of Reims: started in 1211, and have been constantly updated over the centuries. It’s also important to remember that during the French Revolution, the angry French population went expressed their anger with the Crown on any physical representation of the State, including churches, and especially those with Royal connections. In Paris this damage manifested itself through the destruction of the Notre Dame’s Gallery of Kings (the statues of kings were actually beheaded) and and the decapitation of nearly every figure on the building. In the 1860s a heavy-handed restorer named Eugènes-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc came along and was appointed by the French government to repair these buildings. It is his work that created the Notre Dame de Paris that we see today. All of the gargoyles are of his design, and weren’t actually on the original building. I’m not exactly sure what Viollet-le-Duc did at Reims, but he was definitely involved in the mid-19th century, and I feel confident that the building was all but unrecognizable after the Revolution due to damage of a very angry population.
Anyway, fast forward to the first World War, when the church was destroyed again. A wooden scaffolding erected on the Northwest corner of the entry took a direct hit from and caught fire, eventually engulfing the entire wooden roof structure, which in turn collapsed into the church itself. Obviously stone doesn’t burn, but it does become damaged from extreme heat, and the entire northwest corner was damaged almost beyond recognition. With the war over and the city trying to rebuild, some very kind and generous Americans came to the rescue of Reims. It’s no coincidence that the road leading to the Cathedral is called Rue Rockefeller (don’t forget, too, that the Rockefeller’s had a fairly significant role in the restoration of Versailles in the 20s as well as the Pyramids of Giza at the same time - for more on this go and get a copy of the very well written book: America’s Medicis: the Rockefellers and their Incredible Cultural Legacy). On a similar topic, I’m sure many bibliophiles will not be surprised that the main library in Reims is called the Bibliothèque Carnegie.
Rue Rockefeller
20 September 1914, a German mortar hits the Cathedral
I found this online showing the Cathedral after the Germans had attacked Reims.
Anyway, following the major stabilization of the Cathedral (i.e. new roof), work began on the repairing of the other damage from the fire, a project that continues today. This work has included the recreation of hundreds (thousands?) of the statues and decoration that was heavily damaged and at this point the end is finally in sight: there are only a handful more statues left to go. (Luckily a thorough inventory of all of the statues and sculptures was made in the mid 19th century when a priest went around the building and photographed everything, providing a basis for all of the new copies.
Over the central portal
This entire portal was burned beyond salvage and all of the sculpture minus the two figures that look like blobs here is less than 100 years old. Those two figures are still waiting to be replaced. In fact, the scene with Christ on the cross is only a few years old.
Same view post war damage
The inside of the façade - especially rare because of the sculptures and 2 rose windows.
If you're really good with architecture you might be able to spot an error in the design looking down this side aisle.
Not surprisingly, having suffered greatly over the years, many of the stained-glass windows (les vitraux) are replacements dating from the mid-19th century to the modern day. The most famous of these windows are those added in 1974 by the artist Marc Chagall, an artist known for his modern work. The figures sort of look like they’re floating and it’s a great juxtaposition in such an old building.
Traditional windows - mid 19th century designed for the Viollet-le-Duc renovations
The Chagall windows
Even though the Chagall windows are the most famous, my personal favorites were the six windows made by the German minimalist artist Imi Knoebel in 2011 as the cathedral in celebration of the cathedral’s 800th birthday. They are so unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a church that they were actually cool. I don’t normally like modern work, and I’ve never found myself drawn to minimalist stuff, but these were brilliant. All the colors were so pure and saturated and they stood in such contrast. It was really just really amazing.
Decapitated angel - no smile there... And notice that the detail has literally burned off the clothing.
The 1926 replacement angel
From the Exterior it's very traditional in appearance
Art Deco Fresco in one of the meeting rooms
For every professor who ever tried to convince me that French art was THE ZENITH of art, I present this portrait of a former mayor of Reims. I can't tell if it was a paint by number exercise, but it's bad.
The Wedding Chamber - In France you have 2 weddings: a civil service in the mairie and one (if you chose) in a church. It's the French way of ensuring separation of Church and State
Salle de Fête and, our tour guide. If only American civil servants dressed that well...
Bas relief reflecting the economic base of Reims: Champagne
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