Medieval Troyes and Ceremonial Reims

Monday, April 30, 2012 Eva 0 Comments




Our October sojourn in the French Valley of the Kings had drawn to a close for us.  It was time to leave the land of forested estates.  Where the rich, the elite and the aristocratic can be seen gathered on Sundays in hunting parties dressed in period costumes atop their horses, accompanied by a traditional horn blower and packs of hounds.  Where gateau-like chateaux adorn the landscape.  Where fairytales, fantasies and follies come to life.

So we left Fantasia Land (ie, the Loire Valley) to head towards another well-known area of France – Champagne, the Land of Bubbly. Eastward bound we travelled deeper into colder weather and greyer skies.  After weeks of gorgeous sunshiny high 20’s it was now downright gothic and wintry.

TROYES

First stop – Troyes – for several days. Two reasons drew us here. It was the ancient and original capital of Champagne filled with half-timbered medieval houses ….and……. strangely, factory outlet shopping districts, according to our Lonely Planet guidebook.  Whoa, we’d held back on consumerist pleasures such as retail therapy for most part of this long-haul trip and now, nearing the end of it, we were in the mood to let those euros shake loose from pockets and purses.

Troyes after rain

What did we discover apart from heaps of affordable international brand name labels and it being the home of Lacoste?  This town is the origin for the name “troy weight” - the unit of measure for gold.  

In the heart of the city whose layout resembles the outline of a champagne cork, Troyes is a delightful-to-explore-by-foot place (even in pouring rain) that has beautifully preserved its medieval small town charm.  Narrow cobblestoned streets and town squares are bordered by pretty half-timbered buildings, some of which slant more precariously than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Some streets and laneways have great names such as the dark and narrow Ruelle des Chats (Cats Alley).
After a few champagnes you could be forgiven for thinking
that you weren't seeing straight

We picked up a Troyes City Pass that gave us discounts to outlet shops and museums, free champagne tastings, chocolate samples and an audio-guide of the historic centre. We came across many wrought-iron framed wells, numerous stone churches crammed with beautiful statuary and art, an old Jewish quarter and, of course, a large range of cafes, wine bars and restaurants squeezed into any conceivable space. 


Ruelle des Chats

Detail of Sts Crispin and Crispinian, patron saints of shoemakers
in Eglise St Pantaleon, Troyes

TOOL MUSEUM - SERIOUSLY GOOD 

A fascinating stop was at the Maison de l’Outil, Troyes’ tool museum – it was seriously good.  Housed in a historic multi-storeyed creaky 16th century building was a vast collection of around 10,000 tools from bygone trades and eras.  Carvers, coopers, milliners, butchers, carpenters, stone masons, upholsterers, glovemakers, you name it, all crafts were represented. This place is a shrine to the art of manual labour.

Max stands in courtyard of Troyes' Tool Museum, above
and
in front of one of its many collections

REIMS

A memorable daytrip from Troyes was to Reims, the coronation capital of many of France’s kings. To pronounce it is something like “Rance” but rolling the ‘rrrrrrr’ and saying it as if you have a blocked nose.  Here we were entertained by buskers and acts around the town’s café-lined squares and visited the fascinating and massive statue-encrusted Reims’ Notre Dame Cathedrale where Joan of Arc stood by Charles VII at his coronation.   

We ate a bison sausage hot dog and bison hamburger for lunch at an outdoor Canadian promotional event (rather tasty) and stood sombrely in Eisenhower’s and the Allied’s map room in the Surrender Museum (Musee de la Reddition) where the Nazi Germans surrendered to the Allies, effectively ending WWII.  There’s so much more to explore in Reims, including Roman ruins as well as the champagne houses of Taittinger (a little out of town) and Mumm – however, we were saving the champagne tasting for Epernay.  A daytrip certainly cannot do justice to such a richly historic town, but at least we tried.

Horsemounted Joan of Arc faces the Reims Notre Dame Cathedral
A few examples of over 2000 statues
at the Reims Cathedral

Surrender Museum, Reims

This was the one day we decided not to drive and instead caught the train to Reims – 22 easy minutes there, 3 long weary hours on the return due to a power failure on the train tracks.  We sat patiently in the train-to-nowhere with other passengers for over 1 ½ hours whilst railway authorities decided what to do, then shepherded like a sheep flock to a bus stop where we stood outside shivering in the cold for a further half an hour waiting for a bus that never arrived and finally ushered back again onto the railway platform to catch a slow train to Troyes. 

Two fabulous Champagne cities explored. Onwards next to other places within the Champagne province loaded down with our many clothing purchases (more Max’s than mine!) squeezed into a brand new mini-suitcase which is crammed alongside our swollen backpacks in the small car boot.

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