Reims and Mailly-le-Camp

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This morning I visited the cathedral of Reims. It is famous as the site where French Kings were traditionally crowned, back when there WERE French kings. It is an impressive sight, but the main thing I was interested in was to see where my father had been. I attempted to take photos from the same spots that he did. The full length shots of the cathedral look pretty much the same, although there was scaffolding in 1946 and there is (different) scaffolding in 2015. Perhaps more interesting is the left portal where he stood so you can see what he looked like (see picture). Reims is the place where Joan of Arc convinced Charles VII to have himself crowned king and then rally the French to defeat the English in the Hundred Years War. The statue of Joan is the same one from 69 years ago, but the base is different and it may be in a different location (see picture). From Reims I drove to Mailly-le-Camp which is a town south of there where Dad was stationed for a period of time. I had little hope of finding the places where he took the two pictures I have because the French army has a base on the same property. To my surprise, I was able to drive around the barracks area and to my astonishment, I actually found both photo sites. The first is the chapel which is still a chapel today. I couldn't get the same angle because the foliage would block the view, but you get the idea (see picture). Dad took a picture from the upper level window of his billet, so although I found the building, I couldn't go up to get exactly the same viewpoint (see picture). The half-timber architecture of the buildings in this picture has been plastered over, but I am pretty sure they are the same as in 1946.

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