Reims - finally leaving!

This was definately our last few hours in the "Champagne". I, and my wife, both had our various work to return to on the Tuesday, and it was a long drive back, even if our Triumph Spitfire (of a certain age) was to be given back to us (as Madame and the Garagist had assured us) in a state of "almost new"!

After the luxuries of our tour around the cellars of Mumms Champagne, a light and rather "burpy" lunch in a Reims bistro, we had been able to grab a couple of hours shuteye, which seemingly pleased our host, Madame! This should have warned us a little, but we were simply too tired to care.

Amazing what a couple of hours of solid sleep can achieve, and promptly, at 7pm, as commanded, we found ourselves waiting in what passed for a lobby in our "Paradise Hotel".

Invited, as we were, we had no idea where we were going to be abducted to, but after the events in the old Yugoslavia (to be read elsewhere on this Blog), we didn't really care.
The main thing was that we had paid for our repairs, which had been a delightful surprise, particularly the final sum, after all the additions for parts, labour, taxes and even more taxes! Madame had been given a Eurocheque for the required sum, and we were able to figure out how much was left in the bank, before we had to start working on our Credit rating!

Again!

After a good half hour's waiting, which was actually quite good for French standards, we were presented with a MAGNIFICENT Madame, together with a couple of her beautiful girls, dressed to the nines, and we felt quite out of place amongst all these feathers and things!

Just a few seconds passed, before a large limousine pulled up in front of our Hotel Paradiso, with a sort of "sigh", as the brakes were applied.

We were impressed, but having got to know the relative importance of our "Madame" in Reims, we were not surprised.

We piled into the abundant space provided, and I, for one, can tell you that travel with certain ladies is NOT my cup of tea. I think I would make a lousy pimp!

The mixture of expensive perfumes was barely supportable. One at a time, they were probably wonderful, but all together, well - I would have preferred a Camembert cheese!

This was actually something I came over again, later in life, even now, when the guests at a Wedding Reception or something similar, pass by my place, the odours remount to my 3rd floor window, and recall "REIMS".

The chatter went on and on, and obviously Madame and her girls knew where we were going, as did the Chauffeur.
It most certainly wasn't a Restaurant, for we were driving to the outskirts of the city, in the general direction of the road we would take the following morning with our Spitfire, decidedly less comfortably installed than now!

After twenty minutes of "oozing" through the narrow streets, we saw the lights of something very large looming up in front of us.

Madame looked at us, and gave a knowing tap on the side of one nostril! I wondered if this was a reference to the perfumes, but decided that it was the International way of saying - "Just wait and see!"

The limousine drew to a stop, and the doors were opened to a screeching noise, like the hordes of Football fans made at a match, and then we realised that was exactly what it was!

We were at the Reims Football Stadium!

No way, we thought, had Madame and her girls got all dressed up to go to a football match, surely?

Wrong!

They wanted to go to a Football match, but not just any old football match! Reims, as we discovered, later, were at this time in the French 1st Division, and were having a long run in the French Cup competition. Tonight's game was a semi-final, against nobody less than a Paris club, and this was a matter of pride!

We thought that (if Madame's get up, and her girls dressing were anything to go by) the Reims Club colours must be a garish thing, but once again, we were not disappointed!

Rather than following the hordes of people, with hooters and flags, and the Lord alone knows what else, they went, with obvious knowledge of the place, straight to a small door, marked "PRIVE".

We entered, and the door closed, and instant silence reigned!

We all crowded into a rather small lift, I suffered in silence the pressings and nudges of Madame and her girls, and sought the reassurance of my wife's presence (over there- behind the large shape of Madame).

Happily, the lift journey didn't take long, and we stumbled out, almost suffocated by the perfumes in such a close area, to find ourselves in a large, long room, lit by magnificent Chandeliers, and porting a very long, wide table, already set up for what must hav been at least a hundred guests. Crystal glasses sparkled under the lights, and at the far end of the long room we saw the assembled guests, gathered at the bar, consuming their Aperatifs, and various "nibbles".

Without hesitation, Madame strode out in front of us all, and was welcomed loudly, from left and right, as we ran the gauntlet.

We were finally presented to someone we roughly understood to be the "Financial" Boss of Reims Football Club, and a charming guy he was, although I wasn't too taken by the way he slobbered over my wife's hand. My wife, however, just glanced, triumphantly, in my general direction, as if to say:"See- this is MY lift"!

I was pleased to see our guide of the morning, from Mumm's Champagne, in a corner, and he waved us over. After welcoming us profusely, he once again uttered his insane and unpayable advice:

"Stay with Champagne, and you can't get drunk!"

I cast a glance at his Pastis glass, and he shrugged his shoulders in that Gallic fashion that only a French person masters!
I won't go into the wonderful evening that we passed. It was the one and only time in my life that I found myself in such lofty places, and I felt quite at home, even if a little guilty about the thousands outside, on the terraces, freezing, whilst supporting their team (who got beaten, actually).
We didn't get to see a lot of the match, with a dozen different courses to get through, it wasn't easy to pop up and down to the windows, but with the magnificent meal and wines, I felt justified in not bothering too much. My wife, in any case not "mad over football" - although she accompagnied me to Berlin Hertha games at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin- preferred to concentrate on her glass and her plate, whilst nodding and gesturing vaguely (in an almost Gallic manner) in answer to questions posed by our table neighbours!
Frankly - it was fireworks!

We never made it back to Reims afterwards, in all our travels, apart from the period spent working in those Mumms Cellars, in the course of my "studies", which wasn't the same, for we were not privy to such contacts, and I think that may have been a good thing, for it could only have been a disappointment, after this unwanted stop-over for the weekend!

(iwmpop) mr le Marquis.