Chartres

Yesterday, we went on a day trip to the town of Chartres, which lies about an hour and a half outside of Paris. It is most famous for its majestic cathedral, La Cathédrale de Notre Dame à Chartres, which we could see from far away as we approached the town. To the left is a view of the Chartres Cathedral from the bus. It was breathtaking even from a distance.

We began with a long, and I mean LONG, lunch as a group in a cute little country-style restaurant called L'Ecureuil. We ended up sitting there for over 2 hours eating and talking. The number of courses that we had was the reason why it took so long: 1. apératif (pre-meal drink) of kir, a blend of white wine and black currant syrup, 2. entrée (appetizer) of vegetable quiche and a small salad, 3. plat (main dish) of chicken in cream sauce, wild rice, and roasted vegetables, 4. brie and a little bundle of greens (i have no idea what course this is), 5. dessert of a yogurt-based icy vanilla ice cream thing with starfruit and a cherry tomato. Yeah. It was a lot.
The town is incredibly well-preserved, lots of original buildings, parts of ancient walls, beautiful courtyards and flowerboxes. Here's a series of pictures to depict the town to show off how picturesque and beautiful the town is:

And then finally, after a while walking around in really unnecessarily hot French countryside weather, we arrived at the Chartres Cathedral. And there was a wedding there!!! A small wedding, but we arrived at the cathedral just as the bride was about to walk down the aisle. There was a choir and an organ playing and the combination of the music, the astronomically tall ceiling, the overwhelming stained glass windows, the candles...all of it, quite frankly, was very seductive. It is difficult not to believe or want to be religious in a space like that. It's a reassuring feeling to be able to believe that there is something or someone out there to be your guide and aide, and to be able to lose any fear of dying due to the promise that there is something more...but, as I said during one of the conversations with the girls over lunch, I don't think I could support a religion or system that has so much violence and horrific behavior in its history, justified solely by those beliefs. I lit a candle for my family, anyway, though. It's sitting in front of a side altar where there is a reliquary that supposedly holds a veil worn by the Virgin Mary. The candle for my family is the candle immediately to the left of that gap in the front of the picture in the front row.
The outside of the building was JUST as magnificent. Especially out back. There are gardens, and a beautiful view of the rest of Chartres. The detailed stonework around each of the portals of the cathedral were beautiful, as well, although time, weather, and other forces have resulted in some damage to the artwork. There is also a labrynth of grass out back. Apparently when the Crusaders were out killing people under the name of God, people back in Chartres who were unable to go fight for their faith demonstrated their piety in a form of self-punishment by going through the entire labrynth on their knees.
Here is a picture of me with a marvelous view of Chartres and the labrynth below.

All in all, a very hot but enjoyable day in Chartres followed by the most nauseating 2-hour bus ride that I have ever experienced in my entire life due to a lack of AC and a bus driver who seemed to believe that speeding for like 50 feet would get us to Paris faster even though there was bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way into the city.