Reims! Why Not

Life is an unpredictable thing. I think it is a combination of many events that make it strange un expected and beautiful at the same time we come across to places, people and events that we never could imagine we will be experiencing.

A similar one struck me beautifully when was being accepted as Erasmus student in France, and the city I was given the opportunity to study was none other than Reims!

I didn’t have much of an idea what kind of journey I would go through, I had a tough landing being struck with delayed flights, reached Paris First, had to meet a friend and stay with him at Strasbourg, It was my first time in France so I really found it hard to overcome the complex trains and metro systems of the city, I just received a text from a friend to take some buses go there and do this to reach I could understand English pretty well though, but for me it was something that blew my head off!  It was not so easy for a first day foreigner to travel to another city the same day he landed in a new country.

Reached to him though and then when the dust settled, I decided to come to Reims, which would be my home town for couple of months . the school explained me perfectly how to reach and when I came and saw, I was like I have come back in the peaceful past, a fairy tale!

I have all reasons to say so. What I saw was a city of beautify covered greenery surrounding it, complimenting it from all angles, and with no pollution or noise at all.

I took the tram I was expecting it to be as long as I saw in Paris or Strasbourg but wait a second, it barely ended approximately half an hour to all the stations!

The scenes that I saw were absolutely marvelous! It was a blissful integration of traditional European culture and promising future that the city is destined to have.

Soon after I was done with administrative work i started getting social because I just had few months here to explore this beautiful city. Met a lot of people they guided me about the city really beautifully , my school  had so many associations that helped me to know more people hang out more.

Reims is a very historical city, it has its traces back 80 BC, has been captured by a lot of empires including the famous empire. It is the city in France where all the kings would be crowned and they were accepted as kings. There is a beautiful cathedral which is a masterpiece of art and history that is symbolic in many ways, some say that the kings were baptized here. But the city has made in such a way that all the roads will lead you to the castle!

An amazing museum also waits and welcomes its visitors, it has been fully patronized to introduce the visitors with some past glories ! Reims has a beautiful structure, I had been to many different places but its so easy to remember since it’s a small city which covers the area of 47 Kilometers, so its like a home for a guy who has a background of city Like Lahore with 200mn amazing people!

Population of the city is almost 200 thousand which you can completely feel when you try to go out side in the evening. If you live in Paris and are tensed with the population, this is a Kool place for having  a vacation! Also its really hard to cheat someone here, since everyone goes to the same bar so don’t try to flirt someone because there is only one street you can go out in, will be caught red handed !

The main City Centre road is the home of all the cafes and bars and you can find whatever your demand is there I was a bit shocked to see the love of people here for Kebab since I had seen it in turkey ! but happily there are many amazing kebab shops here which are ready to mesmerize your taste buds with Turkish people serving them I had a chance to make use of my little Turkish and impress my local friends ! but in reality I was just saying hey I dint know much of Turkish :P

The city is located in champagne region, it’s the home of some of the best possible qualities of champagne that could be possibly produced and the amazing facilities that produce them are located in country side giving you the best views you could see. If you are a champagne and wine fan, this place is for you !

Biscuits are some of the great specialty of this place there are plenty of. Also if you want to  try something different there are some Pakistani and Indian restaurants selling you the Asian food that will obviously give you some different and delicate taste! The tourism office here is really actively playing their part to make this city more travel convenient and they are located really close to main Cathedral   guiding people in almost all basic language with a pleasant smiling staff! ( May be they smiled just for me)

The more time you spend here and explore the city the more you get attached to it, and I am sad, when I leave this city, I will miss it so much !

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