At Chartres we had some time before we needed to meet up at the Cathedral so I went with Paige, Betsy, Marissa and Sarah to walk around the town a bit and grab a bite to eat. We stopped in a shop where Marissa and I spoke with the cashier for a couple minutes while I was ordering. He was nice enough to take my credit card, even though it was against policy for so small a bill, because I didn't have any euros on me. I need to find an ATM. He was like, "Its ok, I trust you." He said he liked speaking to us in French because most girls who come in don't know how to. Haha. Oh, and did I mention he was really handsome and charming? Yeah. It was a scene out of a movie--minus the part where he wisks me off my feet and we ride into the distance on his moped. Ha. I'm sure if we went back it'd happen.
Anyways, after that we went up to the Cathedral where we met as a class and had an hour tour by Malcolm Miller, a Brit who has been studying the Chartres Cathedral for around twenty years and just wrote a book on it. It was really quite fascinating, and it was easy to pay attention because he was a cute old man with a British accent. The only thing missing was a pipe! Well, he was fantastic. He knows so much about the cathedral and was able to really make the cathedral more accessible. I learned that in the Middle Ages cathedrals were actually painted inside and didn't look all gray and so dark as they do now. We could see this in the contrast between the restored section of Chartres compared to the rest. It was a beautiful clean white wash next to the dark gray of the rest of the stone. They're undergoing a huge restoration project there that will take another five years or so to complete. Apparently they just put back one of the stained glass windows and are about to take out the rose window in a few months, so we're lucky we came now so we could see them. I also learned that Henri IV was crowned in Chartres! That was cool to learn because we talk about him so much. Its amazing to think just how many people and how much history is enveloped in these old buildings and cities. So much has happened there. In fact, there were five cathedrals on that spot and the one now standing was built in only 30 years after the one before burnt down.
The Chartres Cathedral is home to the holy relic of Mary's cloak and in the fire it escaped damage. Three days after the fire it is said that the priest came out carrying the cloak from the crypt where it was kept, unharmed, and he sent word far and wide to other church authorities of this "miracle" and was able to raise money to build the cathedral that now stands. He said the fire was a sign from Our Lady that she wanted a bigger and grander Cathedral. Chartres Cathedral is known for its blue in the windows, made from cobalt, which is apparently very difficult to reproduce. Most of the windows in Chartres are original too, I think it was around 152 out of 185 are original or something like that. It is also known for its two different steeples. The one is a simple pyramid built in the 12th century while the other is built after the 16th century Flamboyant Gothic style of architecture.
The cathedral has been an important landmark in the spiritual and intellectual spheres. It was an important pilgrimage site because of the holy relic it housed as well as one of the main intellectual centers of France. The Chartres cathedral school was especially renowned for its study of logic and had scholars such as John of Salisbury and Thierry of Chartres. According to Malcolm Miller (who I just saw is included in the wikipedia bio of Chartres--yeah, he's legit alright and I got to hear him!) the school at Chartres was responsible for the Neoplatonic symbolism of the cathedral's western facade. Chouette.
Well, after touring the cathedral we walked outside and strolled through the town. Its a really cute old town, but it was so cold today. It was cloudy, cold and very windy. We kept ducking into shops just to get warm. We went into a really fancy chocolate shop, but everything cost a lot because it was gourmet chocolate in all these fancy shapes and collections. I did buy some postcards at the shop inside the cathedral though. After that we met up with some other people in the class and walked back to the train station to catch the train back to Paris. On the ride home we saw the Palace of Versailles in the distance and the outside of Paris and the Eiffel Tower--a cool new perspective from the train. We'll be visiting Versailles next week. I'm so excited!
After that Marissa and I rode back on the metro with Betsy and Paige and went home for dinner. Frederique made us Quiche Lorraine which was soooo good! It my favorite dish we've had so far. We had salad, quiche Lorraine, cream cheese and fruit salad that was absolutely delicious. Oh man, so good. I want some more just thinking about it. I'm definitely going to have make quiche Lorraine when I get home. We also had a nice dinner chat with her about our visit to Chartres and randomly about 9/11, traffic, the difference between France and the U.S. in terms of transportation etc. I also had a nice exchange with her about the movie Gladiator which she saw the other day and loved. I don't blame her, it is a great movie. She said Robin Hood (or, Robin des Bois) was also good. It was hard for me to catch exactly what she said, but it sounded like she said it wasn't quite as good, maybe that it was just very similar to Gladiator. But she did say it was good and the soundtrack was excellent. I'm excited to go see it when I go home.
Well, that's about it for today. I hope it warms up soon because I don't have warm clothes and I want to wear my happy spring outfits! It's supposed to warm up next week, but hopefully the wind will at least hold off tomorrow. Maybe we can just visit a museum to avoid being outside. Until then I guess!
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