The Vault ~ Reims

Notre-Dame de Paris might be the most famous cathedral in France, but I also am a big fan of the Notre- Dame de Reims cathedral in Reims, North-East of Paris, home of Champagne.

I first visited the cathedral on a cold Christmas Eve and got overwhelmed by the atmosphere. I felt so tiny next to those huge columns and I sat there listening to a children choir singing softly Christmas songs.

The vault is 38m high (125 feet) with no decoration. The austerity and the cold inside creates an intimidating atmosphere.
It is definitely a place I would go visit again and again.

Peace

While visiting the Eiffel tower again with a friend, I came across this monument at the end of the "Champs de Mars" (a big garden next to the tower), right in front of the military school that you see behind the monument on the photo.

It is a monument dedicated to Peace. It consists of 32 pillars with the word "peace" written in 32 different languages all over them.

I find it kind of ironic to have a peace monument right in front of a military school actually.

And just a little trivia for those interested: Do you know why that big garden is called "Champs de Mars" (field of mars)? No it has nothing to do with the planet.. It's because this area was used as a field to plant potatoes imported from the American continent. These potatoes were planted in the month Mars, hence the name. Yep... Before being a french icon, this area was a potato field :)

Bon appetit!