Notre Dame - It's not just in Paris (October 12, 2013)

What to do on a long weekend, when you aren't sure if you will get paid, thanks to a government shutdown caused by people who don't do their job but still get paid for it, while you do your job and might not get paid for it; Go to France, of course! That was the plan...go to Giverny to see Monet's garden...with a few side trips.

I would say we started off bright and early, but that problem with that statement was that it was anything but bright...definitely early though. Jeanne and I were to be at Jennifer's house around 5 am. For me, that meant being up and out of the house by about 4 am. Simple enough for anyone who is not a night owl, which I am, but I did it anyway. Got to Jeanne's and she was ready to go (always a good sign when at least 2/3's of us are ready) so off we went, into the night/morning. All was going well, until we got to Jennifer's village...there in the middle of our path was a huge ditch blocking off the road. I don't know the village well enough to get through it in the light of day, but the dark of night was more a challenge but we made it to the house none the less (not sure how, but we did, and that is all that counts).

With everyone packed into the car, we were off, and pretty much on time. So we drove, and we drove, and still no sunlight...finally around 7:30 or so, the sun decided to join us. Although we were on our way to Giverny (or at least that area) we decided to make a pitstop in Reims, France to see the cathedral - Notre Dame (seems there are plenty of Notre Dames in France, not just the one in Paris).

A little history on the cathedral, for those history buffs. It is called Notre Dame Reims or Rheims Cathedral. 25 kings of France were crowned in this cathedral. All royal coronations took place in Rheims, with the exception of Louis VI and Henry IV.

In 816 when the Carolingians first introduced the coronation ceremony in imitation of the anointing of David by Samuel, Louis the Pious chose the town of Rheims as a fitting place to receive the imperial crown. The cathedral was built on the site of the basilica where King Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi in 498. ON an interesting side note, the structure was built on the site of some Roman Baths.

Looking through these, I wish I had taken some in b/w...but I loved the lighting in this cathedral, so I am good with them :)

Our adventure is continued on in the next few blog postings. (I would put it all in one, but some have complained that it takes too long to load when they are all in one posting; hope you don't mind).