Friday our little troop headed off to Chartres to see the cathedral and the old medieval town. The forecast originally included rain and there was a bit, but the afternoon was spectacular. We arrived in time to walk the church's famous labyrinth in the morning. We were part of a fairly small group, some chanting, others praying quietly. My favorite part was when you reach the center while waiting to step into the very center, there is a slightly larger circle surrounded by half- circle "petals". The person in the center is therefore surrounded by a ring of other labyrinth "pilgrims" if there are enough people walking at the same time. Walking felt more solitary, but the central ring felt like a more communal experience. A sign nearby said that in older times, the archbishop would walk the labyrinth on certain occasions, carrying a yellow ball of fabric. When he reached the center he would toss the ball back and forth with congregants standing around the labyrinth's edges in a festive, celebratory game.
They’re in the (lengthy) process of cleaning the cathedral walls. This shot shows the difference between the part that’s finished and the part that is yet untouched.
Lunch was at La Picoterie - a little crêperie where they had two whole pages of gluten free buckwheat crêpes - a great find for Rachel and I. I had a local specialty with mustardy duck sausage and apples and a crêpe underneath. Linda had a traditional one with bacon, cheese and potatoes. Rachel's, with cheese, ham, and poached pear was by far the most beautifully presented
After lunch, we took a walk through the old cathedral town and had coffee, tea, and Linda got to have a paumier, something she loved as a student in Paris
This house, the Maison de Saumon has wood timbers dating back to the 1500s. Large wood carvings are incorporated into the design, including a large salmon from which the house gets its name
This one says something like "If you suffer from thirst or hunger, you’ll find good food and drink here". Unclear whether this is a literal advertisement or a metaphorical/biblical statement.
Like all tourist attractions, there’s no lack of schlocky stuff, but this one made us laugh
In the afternoon we were scheduled to have a tour with Malcolm Miller, the famous guide to the Cathedral and its windows. Unfortunately he was ill so my travel buddies had to make do with me reading bits of a badly organized guide book. Still, with two clergy people a pastor's wife, and a preacher's kid, we were able to work out some of the stories in the windows. I do recall, from Miller's tour decades ago, that he pointed out that the windows were a way of teaching biblical stories to illiterate people - kind of like the PowerPoint slides of their day. A lot more durable though - some date back 8 centuries. These are pictures cribbed from the internet. My iPhone wasn’t equal to the task (or perhaps it was the iPhotographer).
An interesting feature was the inclusion of the sponsors of each window in the bottom scenes. For example, the carpenters or cobblers or the famous rich guy would be featured as if to say, "Brought to you by..." Here’s an example (cribbed from soniahalliday.com) featuring the stonemasons
The afternoon sun made the windows more brilliant and added new drama to some of the sights inside and outside the cathedral.
Since we had planned a whole day here, , I had also made a reservation at Café Bleu, a restaurant very near the cathedral for convenience sake. You might expect a restaurant so near tourist/pilgrim central to be of lower quality, but we were very pleasantly surprised. My risotto primavera had salad and perfectly cooked vegetables on top of it. Also beautiful were Linda’s gamberi arrabiata and Annie Marie's sea bream.
But the show stopper was Rachel's strawberry Pavlova
