Category: Art

The winner of Women’s World Cup Group F was going to be playing in Reims, France, so I got hotel reservations near the stadium and then looked to see what the area had to see. I took a chance that the USWNT would win their group and that would be the game we’d be seeing here (spoiler: it was). First, tho, a look at the map showed me that this portion of the trip would be all France National Park type stuff. That’s cool, I thought, it would be nice to spend sometime in nature away from the hectic cities.

Long story short, this National Park is all about the birthplace, continued tradition, craft, and art of champage. Turns out this Montagne de Reims is my favorite National Park anywhere.

Found a small tour to take which left from the train station in Reims. First place our guide took us to was the Reims Cathedral.

Reims is an ancient city known largely for being the place where the French Regency was coronated. For example, in 1429 Jean d’Arc accompanied Charles VII to his coronation at this cathedral.

A person could spend hours looking at the statuary on the outside of the cathedral. The expressions on these four are so familiar and delightful. And the animal downspouts have so much character.

After an overview at the cathedral we went directly to Taittinger to learn about champagne. I absolutely loved this graphic in the lobby announcing that Taittinger was the official champagne of the women’s world cup, the shapes, color, focus, energy – everything about this design is perfect. I looked up the designer when I got home: La Boca Agent Pekka.

The Taittinger wine cellars were 55 degrees, which was a treat since it was 95 degrees outside. The people that preferred the heat got to carry blankets on the tour into the chalk cellars.

After the tour we had champagne tasting. I enjoyed both the champagne as well as looking at all the other great label design they had on display.

Here’s my favorite poster at a selfie station.

Next we visited the Moët & Chandon’s chardonnay vineyards. Our guide grew up in the area, and was part of the local teams that picked the grapes during harvest season. He gave us a great tour.

After the vineyards our tour guide took us to the village of Hautvillers to see the location where Dom Perignon invented champagne.

Dom Perignon’s grave was in the front of the Abbey Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers, surrounded by statuary of Jean d’Arc and an angel.

A rose bush at the end of the row shows the the health of the grapes. If the rosebush suffers, the grapes will be suffering soon. Something of a “canary in the coalmine” but grapes and roses.

Moët & Chandon has the Dom Perignon brand. There were more champagne houses on this street, our guide took us to the two. I’d have to say I enjoyed the taste and brand of Taittinger more than the Moët, but the entire experience of the tour was wonderful. If you ever find yourself in Paris definitely do a day trip to these and similar champagne houses, don’t think twice about it. Just go.

Back in the city of Reims after the champagne tour we took a walk to find a restaurant for dinner with the current soccer game on, and voila, the USWNT was in town for the game vs Spain the next day.

Next, USWNT v Spain 95 degree game day.

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After checking out of our hotel we started our journey to Reims, with a stop at Les Jardins Suspendus right in Le Havre overlooking the harbor. This first photo below is the view from the gardens of a cruise ship, the container art, and the cathedral.

I took so many photos at the gardens, here’s one so you can get the idea. The greenhouses were full of every kind of plant you can think of from all over the world. And there was a really cool hedge-maze at the entrance which I didn’t get a photograph of.

The gardens are “suspended” because they are high above the city in a space that was previously a fort. They turned some of the closed up passageways into modern murals.

A break for tea and yogurt, this one sticks in my mind for some reason as well.

The rose garden area was my favorite part, they had so many different varieties.

After the garden experience we drove north up the coast from Le Havre with an eye out for some sort of beach turn off or scenic area. Lots of groups of families and friends having picnics, jet skiing, paddle boarding, etc in this rocky beach area at what I think was called, “Cap d’Antifer”.

Our goal was to see Les Jardins d’Etretat, the next city up the coast from Le Havre. In this photo below we are looking across at what I think is a golf course on the chalky cliffs. I’m pretty sure the cliff we were standing on was equally as dramatic from the other perspective. Etretat seemed like another resort town, the sort of place you go for weddings and vacation if you lived in Paris I imagine. It was beautiful.

We found a parking spot on the street down below the gardens and we walked up. Evidently there’s a tourist train ride that can bring you up the hill.

Les Jardins d’Etretat were as much a sculpture park as an arboretum. These few photos below show my favorite art pieces there.

Hey, look, there is a second walkway up from the city directly. We did this all on our own, and it appears we missed these proper channels of approach.

Back in the car for the long haul drive to Reims, which is a bit north east of Paris. Le Havre is west of Paris on the coast obviously, so it ended up being a slight marathon drive to get to our hotel in Reims that night. The drive was mostly farmland with the occasional village.

Next was a full day touring Reims and the surrounding countryside, June 23. The next game day was the 24th.

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Slept late the morning after the USWNT v Sweden game to catch up and get into the time zone at last. We drove right to the shore knowing nothing about Le Havre, figured the ocean would be the main attraction in “The Harbor” city. Found a parking spot and started walking to see what we’d see.

Of course this is France so as soon as you arrive at the water front you see that Monet painted a scene here.

This Restaurant le Clapotis was at the very end of the walkway, near where we parked… we ate here three times I think. The women that served us was such a nice soul, willing to put up with our lousy French, the food was great, and you could watch the cruise ships and sailboats coming and going. The beach cabanas were opened up here and there, with the locals getting some nice rest and relaxation.

The Beach at Le Havre had plenty of people watching chairs at the bars, plenty of cabanas. This whole area had an easy older resort feel about it, without being obnoxious in any way.

A large bright white art installation decorated the beach.

Lots of boys biking and skating in this fun skate park. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see any girls playing in this same space this day. Still tho, cool art. The art installation can be seen in the background.

As this was the day after the FIFA game the “Fan Experience” was closed, so we had no idea what this area was about. But seeing this had us keep our eyes open for something similar at the upcoming games.

The city’s “information” center had the FIFA mascot, Lettie, in the window. Evidently the world cup event was making Le Havre a destination again.

I asked the Information Center person what we should see if we could only see ONE thing in Le Havre. She told us to visit the church, Eglise St-Joseph, which was built on the ruins of the previous church that was bombed during WWII.

The lovely thing about the inside was the stained glass in the large open spire. The woman, Marguerite Huré, that designed the glass considered the position of the sun at different times of the year, and how warm and cool the light shining in would be. From Wikipedia: “Huré organized the colors based on the cardinal directions with the dead wood and red colors on the north side, green and purple to the east, golden shades to the south, and pink and orange shades to the west.” It was a remarkable way to think of the space, I thought. Definitely have a look if you find yourself in Le Havre.

This art installation with a hat tip to Le Havre’s status as a shipping port for France.

We checked out the art museum in town, as it was hot and we were craving central air.

Since this is France, the art museum was amazing. Small, but amazing. There was a show for the artist Raoul Dufy, his work was so varied, these two below were my favorites though.

The wall had a large quote from Raoul Dufy from the day before he died.

I mean, they had a collection of cows, and even these were fabulous.

I also enjoyed a selection of more stark black, white, and grey sea-faring paintings of Manet and Boudin.

After the museum we circled back to the waterfront to walk back to the car. These sailboats were moored just inside the breakwater, so many boats.

At night Le Havre had a music festival for the solstice, in a different part of town. This area seemed to be more about business and fine dining than the shore did. Lots of people were out. Gosh I miss herd immunity (I’m writing this during the pandemic.)

We had one meal in Le Havre down near the music festival, it was the one time someone at a restaurant gave us a hard time for speaking lousy French, it’s funny how that interaction sticks in your head. Especially because then we went out to hear the music the festival had to offer. Everyone, literally every band, sang in English. Here I was thinking we’d get to hear something specifically French. Nope. It was all pop and rock songs in English. I hope that waiter didn’t go listen to any of the music, he’d be pissed.

After a long day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our drive touring to the next game location on the next day, June 22.

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