Part 1: Day Trip to Chartres

  Chartres, France
Saturday, February 16, 2008

On Saturday we got up early and grabbed our obligatory croissants from our favorite boulangerie (bakery) on the corner.  They baked fresh every morning, and the croissants were about the best thing we've ever tasted.  Parisians (and most Europeans in general) don't eat big breakfasts--they grab a coffee and a pastry and that's it.  They do, however, sit down for a hot lunch everyday.  No brown bagging here.  They also seem to sleep late.  Most mornings we were wandering around waiting for something to open.




We headed to the Montparnesse area to take a train to Chartres to the see the cathedral there, about 70 minutes through the countryside.  We've both always wanted to see Chartres (pronounced like "shart" or "shart-RA" if you're French) since seeing slides of it in art class.  Both the town and the catheral were amazing! 

It was also wicked cold that day and the train was freezing, so after getting off I insisted on a coffee break.  This is a typical French coffee, or cafe.  It's more what we would call an espresso in America, but not as bitter and they drink it with a lot of sugar.


Leaving the warm boulangerie we looked up and followed the spires to the Cathedral.  Chartes is considered to be the finest example of Gothic architecture in France.  It was built to house a fragment of Mary's veil (or tunic).


This cathedral is also known for its amazing stained glass which has miraculously (mostly) survived the centuries, with some excellent examples from the 12th and 13th century.  One of the most famous windows is The Blue Virgin, 12th century glass set in a 13th century frame.  It's known for the unique cobalt blue color used.  Old stained glass is a BIG deal--just think of what it's survived, from sackings to fires to bombs in WWII...  Most of the stained glass in English cathedrals is Victorian, so you can imagine how special this glass at Chartres is to date from the 12th century.  


Randy took lots of pictures of Chartres, so if you are interested in seeing them all check out our Shutterfly site.  The labyrinth at Chartres is the best preserved and largest from medieval times, dating from around 1200.  We spent a lot of time in the Cathedral then walked through town a bit. 



We grabbed lunch at a faux English pub.  Here in Chartres carbonara is served with the egg on the side, IN THE SHELL, for you to crack into your pasta (sorry, we're obsessed with carbonara ever since Randy got back from Italy last month).  I had a burger-the rarest burger I've ever eaten.  I wouldn't dream of consuming beef that rare back home-but I figured "when in Rome...".  It was actually really good and I did live to tell the tale.  We headed back to the train station and 70 minutes later we were back in Paris.  The day was still young, so we decided to head over to see Sacre Coeur.