Things to do in Champagne
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Taittinger
The headquarters of Taittinger is an excellent place to come for a clear, straightforward presentation on how Champagne is actually made – there's no claptrap about 'the Champagne mystique' here. Parts of the cellars occupy 4th-century Roman stone quarries; other bits were excavated by 13th-century Benedictine monks. No need to reserve. Situated 1.5km southeast of Reims centre; take the Citadine 1 or 2 bus to the St-Niçaise or Salines stops.
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Moët & Chandon
This prestigious maison offers frequent one-hour tours that are among the region's most impressive. At the shop you can pick up a jeroboam (3L bottle) of super-premium Dom Pérignon millésime (vintage Champagne) of 1998 for just €2100.
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Cathédrale Notre Dame
Imagine the egos, extravagance and the over-the-top costumes of a French royal coronation… The focal point of all the bejewelled pomposity was Reims' cathedral, a Gothic edifice begun in 1211 – and mostly completed 100 years later – on a site occupied by churches since the 5th century. The single most famous event to take place here was the coronation of Charles VII, with Joan of Arc at his side, on 17 July 1429. The structure, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1991, will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2011. To get the most impressive first view, approach the cathedral from the west, along rue Libergier.
Seriously damaged by artillery and fire during WWI, the…
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16th-Century Troyes
Half-timbered houses – some with lurching walls and floors that aren't quite on-the-level – line many streets in the old city, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1524. The best place for aimless ambling is the area bounded by (clockwise from the north) rue Général de Gaulle, the Hôtel de Ville, rue Général Saussier and rue de la Pierre; of special interest are (from southwest to northeast) rue de Vauluisant, rue de la Trinité, rue Champeaux and rue Paillot de Montabert.
Off rue Champeaux (between No 30 and 32), a stroll along tiny ruelle des Chats (Alley of the Cats), as dark and narrow as it was four centuries ago – the upper floors almost touch – is like…
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Basilique St-Rémi
This 121m-long former Benedictine abbey church, a Unesco World Heritage Site, mixes Romanesque elements from the mid-11th century (the worn but stunning nave and transept) with early Gothic features from the latter half of the 12th century (the choir, with a large triforium gallery and, way up top, tiny clerestory windows). It is named in honour of Bishop Remigius, who baptised Clovis and 3000 Frankish warriors in 498. The 12th-century-style chandelier has 96 candles, one for each year of the life of St Rémi, whose tomb (in the choir) is marked by a mausoleum from the mid-1600s. The basilica is situated about 1.5km south-southeast of the tourist office; take the Citadine…
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Cathédrale St-Pierre et St-Paul
Troyes' most important house of worship, 114m long, incorporates elements from every period of champenois Gothic architecture. The Flamboyant west facade, for instance, dates from the mid-1500s, while the choir and transepts are more than 250 years older. The interior is illuminated by a spectacular series of some 180 stained-glass windows (13th to 17th centuries) that shine like jewels when it's sunny. Also of interest: a fantastical baroque organ (1730s) sporting musical putti (cherubs), and a tiny treasury with enamels from the Meuse Valley. Back in 1429, Joan of Arc and Charles VII stopped off here on their way to his coronation in Reims.
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Phare de Verzenay
For the region’s best introduction to the art of growing grapes and the cycles of the seasons, head to the Phare de Verzenay, on a hilltop at the eastern edge of the village. Exactly 101 spiral stairs lead to the top of the lighthouse, constructed as a publicity stunt in 1909, which rewards visitors with unsurpassed 360-degree views of vine, field and forest – and, if you’re lucky, a tiny TGV zipping by in the distance. The Sillery sugar mill, visible on the horizon, turns an astounding 16,000 tonnes of beets (a major regional crop) into 2600 tonnes of sugar each day!
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Place Drouet d'Erlon
Lit up like Las Vegas after dark, Reims' pedestrianised main square draws locals in the mood for a bite, a beer or a bit of shopping. Southeast of the Subé Fountain (built in 1907) – crowned by a gleaming gold statue of Winged Victory – is Galerie d'Erlon, a glass-roofed arcade where you can bask in the shopping vibe of yesteryear. The 12th- to 14th-century Église St-Jacques, the city's only remaining medieval parish church, has some 1960s stained glass that's so awful it has to be seen to be believed. The blue and white windows in the nave were added in 2010.
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Hôtel de Vauluisant
This haunted-looking, Renaissance-style mansion houses two unique museums. Plants used to make dyes and oil paints in the Middle Ages grow in the courtyard.
Musée de l'Art Troyen Redesigned in 2009, the Museum of Troyes Art features the evocative paintings, stained glass and statuary (stone and wood) of the Troyes School, which flourished here during the economic prosperity and artistic ferment of the early 16th century.
Musée de la Bonneterie The Hosiery Museum showcases the sock-strewn story of Troyes' 19th-century knitting industry.
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Église Ste-Madeleine
Troyes' oldest and most interesting neighbourhood church has an early-Gothic nave and transept (early 13th century) and a Renaissance-style choir and tower. The highlights here are the splendid Flamboyant Gothic rood screen (early 1500s), dividing the transept from the choir, and the 16th-century stained glass in the presbytery portraying scenes from Genesis. In the nave, the statue of a deadly serious Ste-Marthe (St Martha), around the pillar from the wooden pulpit, is considered a masterpiece of the 15th-century Troyes School.
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Musé de la Vigne et du Vin
This is so outstanding that it’s worth planning your day around a tour – on most days, one begins at 10am. Assembled by a family that has been making Champagne since 1872, this extraordinary collection of century-old Champagne-making equipment includes objects so aesthetically ravishing that you’ll want to reach out and touch them. Among the highlights is a massive 16-tonne oak-beam grape press from 1630. Reservations can be made by phone or through their website; tours are not necessarily in English.
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Musée d'Art Moderne
The highlights here are French painting (including lots of fauvist works) created between 1850 and 1950, glass (especially the work of local glassmaker and painter Maurice Marinot) and ceramics. Featured artists include Derain, Dufy, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso and Soutine. Housed in a 16th- to 18th-century bishop's palace, this place owes its existence to all those crocodile-logo shirts, whose global success allowed Lacoste entrepreneurs Pierre and Denise Lévy to amass this outstanding collection.
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Maison de l'Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière
Worn to a sensuous lustre by generations of skilled hands, the 10,000 hand tools on display here – each designed to perform a single, specialised task with exquisite efficiency – bring to life a world of manual skills made obsolete by the Industrial Revolution. The collection is housed in the magnificent Renaissance-style Hôtel de Mauroy, built in 1556. Videos show how the tools were used and what they were used for. A catalogue in English is available at the reception.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
This institution's rich collection, housed in an 18th-century abbey, boasts one of only four versions of Jacques-Louis David's world-famous The Death of Marat (yes, the bloody corpse in the bathtub), 27 works by Camille Corot (only the Louvre has more), 13 portraits by German Renaissance painters Cranach the Elder and the Younger, lots of Barbizon School landscapes, some art-nouveau creations by Émile Gallé, and two works each by Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro.
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Musée du Mariage
Featuring colourful and often gaudy objects associated with 19th-century marriage traditions, highlights include a tableau of newlyweds in their nuptial bed – but they’re not alone, for they’ve been woken up early by family and friends bearing Champagne, chocolate and broad smiles. The collection was assembled by the parents of the owner of Champagne Henry de Vaugency (founded 1732), an eighth-generation Champagne grower. An explanatory sheet in English is available.
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Café du Palais
Run by the same family since 1930, this old-time café is the place to see and be seen, at least if you're a bon bourgeois or a theatre type. Decoration includes wall mirrors, an art deco skylight and an extraordinary collection of bric-a-brac that ranges from the tacky to the inspired. The shoes hanging upside down from the dark red ceiling and the life-sized statue of a naked woman with horse's hoofs and elephant tusks – is it art? Is it kitsch?
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Mercier
France's most popular brand has thrived on unabashed self-promotion since it was founded in 1847 by Eugène Mercier, a trailblazer in the field of eye-catching publicity stunts and the virtual creator of the cellar tour. Everything here is flashy, including the 160,000L barrel that took two decades to build (for the Universal Exposition of 1889), the lift that transports you 30m underground and the laser-guided touring train.
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Pommery
No visit to Reims would be complete without a tour of a champagne cave (cellar) and eight maisons (houses or producers) offer guided tours of their premises that end, naturellement, with a tasting session. Of the Reims trinity, Mumm is most easily accessible from the centre, while Taittinger and Pommery are under 2km to the southeast.
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McArthur Glen
Most factory-outlet stores are situated in two main zones. One is Pont Sainte Marie, about 3km northeast of Troyes' city centre along rue Marc Verdier, which links av Jean Jaurès (the N77 to Châlons-en-Champagne) with av Jules Guesde (the D960 to Nancy). McArthur Glen is a huge strip mall with 84 shops. Adjacent Marques City (%03 25 46 37 48; www.marquescity.com) brings together 30 more stores.
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Mumm
Mumm (pronounced 'moom'), the only maison in central Reims, was founded in 1827 and is now the world's third-largest producer (almost eight million bottles a year). Engaging and edifying one-hour tours take you through cellars filled with 25 million bottles of fine bubbly. Tours that include tutored tastings of special vintages cost €15 to €20. Wheelchair accessible. Phone ahead if possible.
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Albert Levasseur
You’re assured a warm – and English-speaking – welcome and a fascinating cellar tour at Albert Levasseur, run by a friendly Franco-Irish couple, which turns grapes grown on 4.2 hectares into 35,000 to 40,000 bottles of Champagne each year. Try to phone or email ahead if possible – but if not just drop by and knock. Situated in the hamlet of Cuchery (population 390), 20km northwest of Épernay on D24.
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Halles du Boulingrin
The vaulted Halles du Boulingrin were a symbol of Reims’ emergence from the destruction of WWI when they began service as the city’s main food market in 1929. Closed in 1988, they will again shelter food stalls – as well as art expositions (on the mezzanine) and cultural events – starting on Valentine’s Day 2012. The peculiar name is derived from the English ‘bowling green’ (as in lawn bowling).
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Fine Arts Museum
The rich collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts include one of only four versions of Jacques-Louis David's world-famous Death of Marat (yes, the bloody one in the bathtub), 27 works by Camille Corot (only the Louvre has more), lots of Barbizon School landscapes, Art Nouveau creations by Émile Gallé and two works each by Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro.
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Le Bougnat de Pouilles
A funky bar/wine bar that doubles as an art gallery. The ventilation system looks like it was inspired either by the Centre Pompidou or by an extremely limited budget - in any case the anti-décor seems to put people at ease. Attacks of the munchies can be overcome with plates of cold cuts or cheese. There's live music two or three times a month, often on Thursday from 21:00.
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Église St-Pantaléon
Looking pretty much like it did three centuries years ago, this Renaissance-style church, with its vaulted wood ceiling, is a great place to see the work of the 16th-century Troyes School – check out the sculptures attached to the columns of the nave. The west facade was added in the 18th century. As in many churches, history sheets are available in French, English and German.
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