Excursion #1: Chartres

Holy moly...I’ve officially been in Paris for a week!!!! It’s feels like much longer than that. I’m loving every second of being here!

So...

We had our first excursion today!!!!

Our train for Chartres left this morning from Montparnasse station around 8:00am, so that meant we had to be up by 6:00am and at the station by 6:45am. It was definitely early! The ride was only about an hour long, so it wasn’t bad at all.

The French countryside is BEAUTIFUL! So much history. I loved passing through all of the old little villages on our way to Chartres. I attempted to take some (horrible) pictures through my window on the train.

When you take the train to Chartres, it’s pretty flat. That makes it really easy to see the GIANT cathedral from really far away. It kind of popped out of nowhere!

So here’s a little history behind Chartres according to my lovely friend Wikipedia:

“The medieval Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), a Latin Rite Catholic cathedral located in Chartres, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest of Paris, is considered one of the finest examples of the French High Gothic style. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1193 and 1250, is one of at least five that have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century.

What makes the cathedral special from an art historical viewpoint is its exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires — one, a 105 metre (349 ft) plain pyramid dating from the 1140s, and the other a 113 metre (377 ft) tall early 16th century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great facades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

Since at least the 12th century the cathedral has been an important destination for travellers - and remains so to this day, attracting large numbers of Christian pilgrims, many of whom come to venerate its famous relic, the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's birth, as well as large numbers of secular tourists who come to see this Unesco World Heritage Site.”

Interesting, right? I was a little bummed though...the entire cathedral is under MAJOR renovation, so a lot of stuff was covered or in the process of being renovated (there's a pic of the ceiling before/after renovation below) It'll be gorgeous when it's done! Oh, and we had one of the most famous tour guides lead our tour - Malcolm Miller. He came to visit Chartres as a young student from England and was so intrigued that he never left! He’s been researching and giving tours for over 50 years! It was very interesting to listen to. Apparently, if you’re caught looking at other tours, look disinterested, or he sees your eyes wandering, he gets really mad and, according to our professor, “turns mean.” We made sure to give him our undivided attention!

I tried to sneak a picture of him during our tour, but I failed miserably. This is all I got:

After the tour, we had three and a half hours to kill until our train left. So, a group of us decided to wander the city! It is SO charming!!!! I took a lot of pictures and some (really lame) videos, but at least it can give you a feel for the town.

We were all starving but couldn’t all agree on a place to eat, so three of us went and tried French Chinese food while the others had burgers somewhere else. It was different, but good! I had to stomach my way through the dessert...it was some hot, squishy, rice, yellow on the inside, coconut, just plain gross thing. I was struggling to swallow it, but I did it!

After lunch, we walked around some more. We found some really cute shops with chocolates, ice cream, and macarons, so we had to stop and eat a little bit of everything! Oh man, by the time we were done walking around, we were SO full!!!! But everything we had was delicious, so it was worth it.

We felt gross, so we decided to walk off our food by walking around the cathedral again. We found a labyrinth (maze) outside and some of the group walked around in it. Chartres also has a famous labyrinth on the inside that people aimlessly wander in. I didn’t feel like doing it, but it was fun to watch some other people do it!

We had to be back at the train station by 3:30pm, but McKenna and I got kind of distracted. She found a souvenir for herself and I found one for my Daddy, so we had to stop and get them. We barely made it to the train! But thankfully we did and I totally crashed the whole train ride home.

After arriving back in Paris, McKenna, Erin, Amy, Paul, Tony, Caleb, and I made our way back to Croissy. We planned on grabbing dinner in town here, but by the time we walked around everything was closed. You know what that means? DINNER IN PARIS! That’s right ladies and gents, it was my first night on the town in Paris. It was kinda sketchy and there were lots of drunk people all over the place but it was so fun! We went to this Greek restaurant and had gyro (is that how you spell it?) pitas and orange juice. Oh, and I had to get a crepe with citron et sucre (lemon and sugar). So delish!!!!

Well it’s getting late...as in I didn’t even get home from the city until 12:20am. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long one! I might just have to take a nap. Enjoy the photos and videos and à demain!