In 2011, I finally made the pilgrimage to Reims, the city where the kings of France were once crowned, in its glorious cathedral. In the weeks before I had visited the basilica at St. Denis, the royal necropolis.

The first king of all France, Clovis I, was baptised by St. Rémi at Reims. Years later, an ampoule miraculously filled with baptismal oil was found in the tomb St. Rémi (see below), and this, the Holy Ampoule, was subsequently used to anoint the monarch during coronations. Another Holy Ampoule appeared some years later for coronations at Westminster. The cathedral nave is higher (38m) than all the cathedrals of England, and one of the highest in France.
Reims was heavily damaged during the first world war, and consequently has an interesting collection of art nouveau and art deco buildings, far preferable to what they would have built after the second world war.