Touring Reims And Rouen

Reims ("Rhahm") was the site of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, from September 1944 to the end of World War Two.  It was also the traditional site of coronations of French Kings.  After World War Two, it was usually the site of the French Grand Prix.

Rouen ("Rou-ahn") did not figure in World War Two.  It (and the surrounding countryside) was militarily contested for 300 years as the Plantagenet, Capet, and Valois ruling classes tried to sort out what was "English" and what was "French."  It was the site of the French Grand Prix after World War Two, when the race was not run in Reims.

Reims is is in the flat, sunny, fertile Champagne country of France.  Rouen is in the Seine River Valley.  Guess which one has the better road-racing course.

SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Reims.  Eisenhower ran World War Two from here from September 1944 to the German surrender in April, 1945.  Before the war it was a trade school.  Today it is a museum that captures the ambience of Ike's headquarters.  The conference room in which the Werhmacht surrendered is restored to its appearance at the time of the surrender.

Reims Cathedral near sunset.  Site of the coronation of French Kings for 800 years.  High Gothic (imagine yourself inside with the sun coming through those Rose windows), and also French Totalitarian.  As Louis XIV said, "Le Etat Cest Moi:" The State Is Me.  And "Apres moi, le deluge:" After Me, The Flood.  True that.  But nobody, then or later, accused Louie of a fragile ego or restraint in using his power.

Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc outside Reims Cathedral.  After she raised the siege of Orleans, she persuaded Charles VII that he should be crowned quickly at the Cathedral.  Their forces ran a hostile gauntlet to bring it off.  She then moved on to besiege Paris, so he could take his throne there.  Then Charles decided to try to cut a deal with English forces remaining in Normandy in exchange for their recognizing him as King of France.  This was not what Joan had in mind: she wanted the Brits out of France, period.  She became a diplomatic liability and was sold out.  Literally: pro-Charles forces kidnapped her and sold her to the Brits.  She was imprisoned in Rouen by pro-Brit Frenchmen and tried for heresy.  The Pope, to whom she appealed, was not taking her calls.  Revolutionaries are among the first victims of their own revolutions.  Plus, she was a girl.

Marche (market square) where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1430.  Her scaffolding was at the street corner in the distance.  The triangular structure to the left is a modern church/market/below-ground parking garage.  There is an excellent restaurant, La Toque d' Or ("The Gold Hat")  just out of frame to the right.  As French cities go, Rouen seemed dirty and crowded.

My dinner at La Toque d' Or.  "White fish in red sauce" does not begin to describe it, although French menus are usually under-written in just that way.  Restaurants sell their food on the plate, not on the menu.  Order what sounds good and let them surprise you.  You can find a bad meal in France, but you have to look for it: try expensively decorated restaurants with a limited selection of entrees, that shout at you from the street-scape.  My then-girlfriend's comment on this cafe before we went in was "...well...at least the prices are reasonable..."  We had one of our best meals here, in a city that neither of us particularly enjoyed.  We also had fine lunches in small towns that were just "en-route."  Lunch and dinner are part of the day: take your time to enjoy them.  The rule of thumb is: if the place looks OK, it probably is.  And don't worry about pushing your own boundaries.  A menu selection may sound unusual, or worse,  but the French don't know how to do un-delicious.

Chateau Gaillard, a few miles south of Rouen, viewed from the Seine Valley.  Richard I of England, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine,  was losing campaigns against Philip II of France, so he agreed to a truce.  "Just one thing," Philip said: "don't fortify that promontory south of Rouen."  Richard said OK--and promptly built the most impregnable fortress on the river.  Philip took it by siege in 1204.  One more prelude to the Hundred Years War, which was really a Three Hundred Years War with intermissions.

The Seine, from Chateau Gaillard.  The chalk cliffs in this view are the same geological formation as the White Cliffs of Dover on the other side of the English Channel.