Let The Touring Begin!

We began the day with a small petite dejuener in a garden next to the church across the street from our hotel. Notice I keep reporting on the food - I know my audience! Pain au chocolat, bagel, juice, cafe au lait.

We took the train to Chartres (my first French train ride!) in the middle of the day, arriving in time for a quick reconnoitering and we found the hotel quite easily.  We could not yet check in, so, of course, we ate! We had a delicious full lunch complete with wine and a long wait for the check - everything one could hope for in a leisurely French lunch. Rob was quite fascinated by the road crew that was installing a stone road in front of the bistro. He particularly liked the stone cutting that was demonstrated several times for us over the course of lunch. Quite loudly.


The Hotellerie St Yves is built on the site of the monastery that was attached to the cathedral. Some of the ruins of the old buildings are still visible - they make up a delightful courtyard that is full of flowers and birds. We have an excellent view of the city and river valley from our room.


Once checked in, we strolled around the old part of Chartres. The Eure River flows through here and some of the old mills and other buildings along it are still in use today as residences and businesses. We found some very interesting timbered buildings, including the one now housing the visitors' center. It is kinown as the Salmon House due to the carving of a salmon, among others, in one of the wooden pillars on the front. Unfortunately, it was covered in netting and scaffolding so we can't show any pictures.


We also toured the cathedral. It has incredibly beautiful stained glass windows that are famous for their number and their intense blue color. It has three rose windows in addition to a particularly famous window depicting the Virgin Mary.


The cathedral is in the beginning stages of a multi year restoration that involves cleaning the inside stone as well as the stained glass windows. The difference between the cleaned areas and the still dirty areas is startling. Once the whole thing has been done, it will completely change the feeling inside the cathedral. It will go from a very dim, heavy feeling interior to a bright, light space. I am eager to return once the restoration is complete to see if I even recognize the place!


We went for a run on a pedestrian path along the river after our tour of the cathedral. The path goes along next to a paved bike-specific path that winds around buildings and through town and across main roads. It was quite nice and we had a good time bird watching as we ran.


After dinner we walked back up to the cathedral on our way to the hotel and we were treated to an amazing light show that apparently runs several times a night beginning in April. They project lights onto the west facade that morph over time and include accents along architectural features. It included projections of some of the stained glass windows, which then seemed to crack and fall. It was really quite impressive and terribly hard to describe. 


Chartres is definitely a city for the pedestrian and we have enjoyed taking advantage of that. It is surrounded by countryside and it was a treat to ride through beautiful fields of green and gold on our way here. It is too bad that we could not be on the bikes, but next time we will!

We are having technical difficulties with attaching pictures this evening and it is bed time. We will work on correcting that and will let you know if you should review this post for pictures in the future.

Bonne Soiree!