Chartres

Chartres Cathedral

We actually got to sleep-in till 7:30 since we didn't leave until 9:30. We went through Central Paris (Place de la Bastille, Notre Dame, and Boulevard St. Michel) to reach the highway to Chartres. The primary tourist attraction there is the Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in France, built in the 12th century. We had time to talk a walk through the city and have lunch before our tour. Our lunch was a French specialty - Buckwheat pancakes with a central filling - mine was egg and cheese. Our local tour guide was top notch, even though she was a Buddhist, she knew everything about this church! The most famous windows are the windows in back of the church, made in the 12th century. The windows depicted the family tree leading to Christ on the right, the childhood of Christ in the center, and his death and resurrection on the left. Then she began explaining the windows on the sides of the church, most of them paid for by the various guilds. For example, the Mary Magdalene window was sponsored by the water guild. You can clearly see her washing Christ's feet with her tears, but at the bottom was the advertisement for the water guild. Fetching water for use by drinking or for putting out fires. Further down was the most famous of the windows - the Blue Virgin with a unique light blue color on the 12th Century portion of the window and a darker blue on the 13th century portion. Around the altar was a wall built in the Flamboyant Gothic style in the older portion and a Renaissance style on the newer portion. Here was a unique scene - the circumcision of Christ. The experts believe that they must have consulted with the Jews on this sculpture because it exactly duplicates the Jewish ceremony. In the back of the church is the 'veil of Mary' which was given to Charlemagne by Irene of Constantinople. Recent scans of the cloth show that it dates from the 9th century, not the time of Christ.

Mary Magdalene Window

We continued on the city of Amboise, arriving just before dinner. That evening we had our welcome dinner at the Cave aux Fouees, built in a cave. The local specialty is Fouees, a bread that they made while we were waiting and then we filled it with cold pork and lettuce. This was followed by the main course: Pork, pork sausage, and white beans. We then had a cake ice cream dish that they said was Baked Alaska, but was much better. With the champagne and the local wine that we drank everyone left full and in a happy mood. 

Dinner at Cave aux Fouees