Chapter 8 - Reims

Once we left Le Hamel, we started our journey to Reims. The countryside was very similar to what we had already travelled through - undulating hills, the occasional wood, and unfenced fields of canola. We stopped a couple of times looking for public toilets with no success. A nice lady at a pub let us use theirs for free. We made our way to Loivre, 15 Km north of Reims, where we would stay, then went into the outskirts of Reims to a supermarket for food shopping.
When we got back to Loivre, we met our host, Abel. The house was in a quiet back street of the town backing onto the canal. It was a large house that had been left derelict for 14 years and is in the process of being renovated. We had an upstairs room right next to the bathroom

(very nice!).
Abel gave us some useful information about using the park'n'ride (tram) but, unfortunately his directions didn't work for us, so when we found the tram tracks, we followed them to the end. It was easy to spot the carpark then!

Reims
We walked around Reims until we found the active centre of the town. Opposite the town hall was a lovely cafe called Chez Paul, where we had coffee and pain au chocolat. Later in the day we would return here to get some lunch. The displays of food inside looked so delicious but unfortunately we couldn't eat them all!
Filled baguettes in France are called sandwiches! We did like the look of those with camembert in them - the slices were quite thick! Cheese is always in thicker slices here and we haven't seen anything like

cheese slices! Unfortunately those were all gone when we returned.
The Reims cathedral (built in the early 1220s), which was severely damaged during WW1, is undergoing further renovation due to ongoing issues with air pollution. This cathedral is where the kings of France were crowned for hundreds of years. It was liberated from the English by Joan of Arc in 1429. It has several new stained glass windows in completely different styles to the originals (specially commissioned). I quite liked their more modern style (I didn't (C)).
After more time wandering through the city's streets and arcades we made our way back to Loivre to cook tea.
After our meal, Abel tried to help us with what should have been a simple task with photos. After several hours and attempted help from others, we gave up in disgust.