We have the next few days with our friends and hosts, Tim and Heather and we are based in their boat, Chamamé, which is moored at Mareuil-sue-Aÿ in the champagne area of France. Friday morning Heather and I made a trip to the supermarket. It is always an interesting venture and now that Heather has some French language it is easier. With two trolleys (plastic hand trolleys that you click two plastic blue baskets on too) we started. The shop is large, has a variety store offering clothing, electrical, books and other sundries as well as being a supermarket. An hour and a bit later we had collected sufficient food for the next few days for five of us, as Stuart (Heather and Tim's son who is currently working in Paris) will join us for the week-end. I am sure we could have stayed much longer just looking but there were other things to do! In the afternoon we took the car to Hautvillers. This is a village on the top of one of the hills overlooking Epernay and is the site of the Benedictine abbey where Dom Perignon invented champagne. The village is charming, and like most of France, has kept its heritage architecture and narrow streets. We walked from the car park part way up the hill and enjoyed meandering the streets, calling at an antique shop before making our way to the Abbey. The Abbey was originally built in around the year 1200. Further walking on the edge of the village gives amazing views across the grapes to Epernay. Surprise, surprise we didn't visit one Champagne house. Saturday we ventured further afield to Reims. Here is the most amazing cathedral we have ever seen and we have seen a lot. It is very intricate in design and until the Notre Dame was opened in Paris was the most important cathedral in France. All of the kings of France were crowned in this cathedral. Like most buildings of significance it was badly damaged in the First World War and then again in the Second World War. Restoration is continuing. It was much warmer day than previously and we enjoyed lunch sitting in the sunshine overlooking the high street of Reims which is quite a large city. From here Heather went shopping and along with Stuart we headed to a very small museum called Musée de la Reddition. In France businesses, museums and many other places close for lunch from 12 to 2 pm so we were waiting for the museum to re-open and we were fortunate that the attendant was kind enough to play the beginning video for us in English. It was in the map room in this building back in 1944 that the surrender of the Germans to the Allies was signed. Reims was a very important city during the war and both the allies and German intelligence Service were housed in that building which was previously a college. After the video we were able to see the various displays and enter the map room where the surrender documentation was actually signed. Back at the boat we had been invited for drinks at another boat along the mooring - so much like being in a caravan park. Motor homes are also allowed to park, free of charge, along the road beside the mooring and each night there are about 10-12 motor homes lined up. There are free facilities for the motor homes i.e. toilets, water, dump spot and general waste disposal. If access to power, showers and washing machines is required there is a user pay system. What more could anyone ask for. The boats pay a small nightly charge but have access to power, water, general waste disposal and a room with toilets and showers and a washing machine. These toilets and showers are in addition to those available to us on Chamamé. It is a delightful setting to stay in. Sunday morning and we decided to visit Verdun in the region of Lorraine some 125 kms away. Having the rental car available gave Tim and Heather the opportunity to visit this historic city. The city has a canal with mooring in the centre and after having visited may well be on Tim and Heather's itinerary for a return visit. It was Mother's Day in France and the florists were open and people were queuing up to purchase flowers. We walked along the canal to the Tourism Office and collected a city walking tour guide and visited some of the places. The Verdun War Memorial is very memorable. It was constructed in 1928 and represents the five sections of the French army that fought and resembles a wall symbolising the Verdun motto "They shall not pass". Just across the river is the "Porte Chausse" which has been the official entrance to the city since the 14th century. Then to the Saint Paul Gate which has two arches and is served by a drawbridge and links with the station. This is all that remains of the original structure. Up the many steps of the Monument to Victory and to the People, we made our way through the narrow streets initially to the Bishop's Palace which since 1993 has been the site of the World Centre for Peace, Freedom and Human Rights. Next we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. This building, like so many others, was severely bombed during World War I and it took from 1919 to 1935 to reconstruct. This cathedral dates back to the 10th century. After having a picnic in the park we made our way to the Subterranean Citadel. Here we entered the seven kilometres of tunnels which were the logistics base and nerve centre of the regiments posted to the Verdun front during World War I. They housed among others the bakery, hospital, kitchens and barrack rooms. We boarded a small self guided train (narcelle) and entered the freezing tunnels to trace the day to day life of the French soldiers and a reconstruction of the scene of the Unknown Soldier. It was a very poignant experience and extremely well displayed. There was a map of the Western Front on display and it was here that my own grandfather (James William Ray) served for the Essex Regiment of the British Forces during World War I. It is hard to believe what he must have suffered, and fortunately survived, during those years. On the way back to the boat we stopped off at Cumières which was one of the nine villages completely destroyed during the battle of Verdun. Today there is no sign of the original village, just a small cemetery and memorial. The site of the original village is now forest as the area was too destroyed by bombs and shrapnel for the village to be rebuilt. There is so much to see in Verdun it is easy to see why Tim and Heather may choose to return to keep exploring. Anyone interested in World War I history particularly would love a stay in this town. Last stop for the day was to see a very old aqueduct sitting in an agricultural field near Condè-sur-Marne. It was built in 1869 and can be used to control the amount of water in the canal. Back at the boat Tim, Stuart and Peter soon joined another boating friend to a game of pétanque . The locals play pétanque every day on the communal area on the foreshore so the visitors had to have a game too.