L'Abbaye de Scourmont where the Pères Trappistes make their fabulous Chimay Biere
Since catching up is the name of the game I thought I would post this entry to briefly describe the journey from Belgium back to the west coast of France. After leaving Brussels, Christine pointed out that we would be going past the town of Chimay. Hmmm, could it be? TomTom said no worries, so off to Chimay we went. Although this was no easy task, as we discovered that there was a bike race through the country side (no not the tour de France) that caused us to take several detours and at one point we asked a couple of children if it was even possible to get to Chimay. The boys told us about a road out the back of the small village we were in so I flipped the rocket around and we continued toward Chimay. The Abbaye, as any bottle clearly states, is not actually in the town of Chimay, but a short drive away.
When we arrived we did get to see one of the monks, but he left and we didn’t see any other living Chimay brew masters during the remainder of our visit.
The final resting place for previous brew-monks
The Abbaye is very beautiful and is even available for private retreats and other functions. We were told that the Monks were forbidden from selling the tasty ale directly to the public, but it was not clear whether or not there was an ‘all you can drink’ policy while staying at the Abbaye. The gardens were open to the public but the rest of the Abbaye was off-limits without expressed permission. The hallway right off the main entrance to the Abbaye was lined with speakers and psychedelic orbs, which made me wonder what kind of a party these monks like to throw. There is a picture of this glass lined hallway in the picture page that I have posted, though its from the other side of the courtyard so you’ll have to squint and take my word for it. We stopped by the Auberge after the Abbaye to pick up some souvenirs and then headed off to the next stop along our route.
The entrance to Hirson
The town of Hirson has a history in Christine’s life, though I suppose I should leave that story for Christine’s blog. Since Hirson is so close to Chimay we had to stop by and take a short walk around town. Hirson used to be a mining town, but since then it sort of settled into the “small town along the road” kind of place. We all hope that Christine will be able to post an entry about Hirson, cause I don’t have much else to say other than check out the cool photo of the Singer store downtown. The link to the photo page will appear below…
OK, after leaving Hirson we decided to stop by Reims.
Notre-Dame de Reims
“The cathedral was completed by the end of the 13th century, with the exception of the western front. That portion was erected in the 14th century, following 13th century designs,the nave having in the meantime been lengthened to afford room for the crowds that attended the coronations. The towers, 81 m tall (approx. 267 ft), were originally designed to rise 120 m (approximately 394 ft). The south tower holds just two great bells; one of them, named “Charlotte” by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine in 1570, weighs more than 10,000 kg (about 11 tons).
In 1875 the French National Assembly voted £80,000 for repairs of the façade and balustrades. The façade is the finest portion of the building, and one of the great masterpieces of the Middle Ages. German shellfire during the opening engagements of the First World War burned, damaged and destroyed important parts of the cathedral. Scaffolding around the north tower caught fire, spreading the blaze to all parts of the carpentry superstructure. The lead of the roofs melted and poured through the stone gargoyles, destroying in turn the bishop’s palace. Restoration work began in 1919, under the direction of Henri Deneux, a native of Reims and chief architect of the Monuments Historiques; the cathedral was fully reopened in 1938, thanks in part to financial support from the Rockefellers, but work has been steadily going on since.” (Extracted from wikipedia) The restoration is still in progress as evidenced by the scaffold, and the very clean ‘new’ parts of the façade that are slowly replacing the older broken and dirty portions of the structure. Unfortunately the smiling angel was obstructed by the scaffold, so you’ll just have to find other photos, or go when they are finished in that area to see it for yourself. I’ve posted other photos that I took inside the cathedral, along with the other photos along the route at this page right HERE. Please post your comments by clicking the comment link on the right. Share your photos at the Open Gallery. Or leave me a phone message @ 206-202-3342.
Until the next one. . . take care,
-G