Construction of the Gothic cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims (the city's name is Rheims in English) began in the year 1210 continued for about a century. It's not as old as Notre-Dame de Paris or Notre-Dame de Chartres, but it's older than Notre-Dame d'Amiens and Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. Nearly all the kings of France over the centuries were coronated in this building. Reims is the major city in the historical province of Champagne in northeastern France. 
The first time I ever went to Reims was at Christmastime in 1972. The mother (named Jeanine) of a student of mine in Rouen in Normandy, where I was teaching, invited me to go with her and her two younger children to spend a few days at her mother-in-law's house Reims — the house was located on the main square in front of the cathedral. I remember things about that trip but I don't remember if we actually went inside the cathedral. I do remember the dinner cooked and served by Jeanine's mother-in-law that first evening in Reims was calves' (veal) kidneys cooked in a brown sauce (probably red wine) with pasta noodles. I had never eaten kidneys in my life, but they weren't bad.
This is what Jeanine's 1972 Citroën GS sports car looked like. She was about 40 years old back then. I was 23.I also remember that Jeanine's car broke down somewhere out in the Champagne countryside one evening and we had to wait for a tow truck to come rescue us. How she called a tow truck I'll never know, because there were no cell phones back then of course. The breakdown turned out to be a loose wire under the hood that was repaired in just a few minutes. I also remember how Jeanine drove us back to Rouen, more than 125 miles west of Reims, on narrow country roads north of Paris. I was sitting in the back seat and I could see the car's speedometer. Jeanine didn't hesitate to get our speed up close to 120 mph (200 kph) on long stretches of road outside the main towns. It was hair-raising, but we made it back safely. There were no speed limits or seat belt laws in France back then.
Sounds like a memorable ride
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful car. Glad you made it back that night, otherwise we would never have known you lol.
ReplyDeleteThere were NO speed limits!?? Ha! Holy cow!
ReplyDeleteJudy
The Wikipédia article on Réglemention des limites de vitesse sur route en France says that the first speed limits on roads outside built-up areas (agglomérations) were enacted in 1973. In agglomérations there was already a speed limit of 60 kph.
DeleteI always wondered why "au volant" meant "driving" in French. Were the high speeds the reason behind why the phrase so closely resembles "en volant?"
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good question and I don't have a good answer. Un volant is also what we call a "birdie" (or shuttlecock) in badminton. It's round with a kind of spokes, like a steering wheel, and turns on its axis. I think roundness has a lot to do with it.
DeleteThat stained glass rose window is really beautiful with all those incredible blues. And the Citroen is also quite attractive, I think, a classic.
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking back then that the Citroën GS was a cool car compared to the '66 Ford Fairlane that I'd been driving in the U.S. for year or so before flying off to France in 1972.
DeleteThat car was obviously FAST, but I wonder about the classification of a "sports car"? I had to chuckle with your response to Diogenes's comment above, as I had been thinking of that "hair-raising trip back to Rouen"!!! (flying off to France) You really did do a lot of flying...
ReplyDelete