We sat around for a while gazing at the huge size of the cathedral. We saw some little kids having a field trip there. I had to fly across an ocean to see it they, they probably drove 1/2 an hour...not fair. There was a middle school right by it too, and the kids were yelling things. I asked Gladys what they were saying. Just normal middle school kids saying normal annoying middle schooler things. Somethings don't change.
We walked down some winding streets, it really was out of a fairy tale book. Quite contrasting from Paris. Great little shops. Chocolat, bonbon (candy), clothes, butchers, etc etc etc.
We walked back up to get the grand tour from our brith Malcom, who in his humor let us know he didn't like the US very much. He went through and explained the extensive history of this cathedral, and the ones which stood there before. He explained how the windows aren't just to be pretty. They tell the Bible story. They didn't have printing yet, nor could people even read then, so pictures told the story. It actually was before the council of Trent, so parts were in the windows that were in the Bible then, not the one they took stories out of. Like how Jesus performed miracles before he was baptized. Nonetheless, we went through two of the windows on the front of the church, then moved over and looked at a few more. When this church was built, a fire destroyed the one before it, so they had huge fundraising across Europe. Pilgrams from all over used to come to the one before to see Mary's tunic, given to the church by the King. Which actually does date to 2000 years ago, so it could be real. After the fire, the priests came out of the treasury behind the steel protection of the doors, and revield (after three days of course) they still had the tunic and it wasn't destroyed in the fire. It was a "miracle" he said. Well...fundraising yes. People could still come form all over to pay (literally) tribute to the relic. They also had a campaign for donations, which came from the kings and commoners. You can see their marks in the windows all around the church. The ones donated by the king has the fleur-de-lis on it. Others have images of bakers, shoe makers, etc etc, to indicate who paid for it.
We went outside to see the reliefs on the outside of the northern door, which had just been recieved back from cleaning with lazers which cost several million dollars to do. They used to be black, and people think now they are just fake. You can see the paint undercoat, and a few places the original paint. Evidently these and much of the inside of the cathedral had bright paint on it back then. Almost gaudy. Malcom explained the importance of these sculptures in the reliefs, the stories and dichotomy.
After we walked through the town for some lunch and touring. We had lunch at the "Welcome Pub" there. They were out of the plat de jour (because it was 2pm), so Nadege being a lawyer at heart I think, negotiated with the cook to exchange out the menu for something else. We got some steak and potatoes for the main dish, and a salad. The salads here have things I wouldn't think of putting in salad: rice, corn, among other things. The steak was tiny! Maybe 2" x 4", served with some bleu cheese. I like american steak better...french steak has not much flavor at all. The potatoes were good though. I had a Brugs beer, from Belgium. It rained while we were inside, thankgoodness now when we were walking around.
After the weather cleared we walked around the town. Finding a great smelling chocolat shop...oh my gosh it smelled great. A fish shop. Eww. The opposite smell. A butcher shop. Then we walked down and found some clothes shops, but Joe and I saw a candy shop, which we decided to explore instead. oh la la. Tres bien. We really were little kids in a candy store. They even had the "bonbons" we had in high school. Of course I had to get some, only 1,49 € per 100 grams. I have no idea what that means...so i got a little of a lot. It was really really good. So much sugar.
Then a bit more looking around the streets and we had to catch our train back to Paris.
Everyone was asleep with in 20 minutes, but I found a french newspaper and did the sudoku...very hard. I haven't been able to solve one of those dang things in the french newspaper yet. I think they are made impossible here.
When we got back we all went home, to meet for dinner later. Mme. de Richemont is out of town for the weekend, so I just came back and rested up. We finally met up later, with some miscommunications about where we were meeting. We went to a neighborhood, and looked for a cafe for dinner. Everything there was really expensive or packed full. We finally found a place, and were met with a really nice waiter. I had an omlette, because we had read another menu at another cafe, and read eggs and bacon. It sounded good because they only have bread or croissant for breakfast here. Then I went to the toillets, which are rather controlled. Most places don't just let you use them, you have to have bought something there first. But they are all down in the basement, so down this twisty spiral staircase in stone and we found them. One bathroom, two stalls: one with a figure of a woman (denoted by her purse and boobs) and one for a man (without that). Interesting.
We traveled around the city for a long time, finally getting lost because we were kicked off a bus when it shut down. So we walked around for a while, and finally found another bus, while others took taxis.
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| Chartres Trip |
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