Chartres
I just got back from Rome where I saw Karen D. and need to put something in here about that trip but it reminded me of our trip to Chartres and it made me curious why I never wrote anything about it here. It was all the way back in 2005 and I want to mention it before I get too old to remember it at all!
It was in August, 2005, which was the first year we went to Kufstein. That first year we stayed in a cheap hotel in Kufstein and Rose and Patrick were along as well. It was our first trip into the Kaisertal and now KH and I go every August.
Once we got back from Austria, Karen and I went to see one of the best if not THE best Gothic cathedral in the world in Chartres an hour or so outside of Paris. I had been wanting to get back there for at least 25 years. It took us about eight hours to drive there mainly because we got lost and almost circled Paris. Our maps just weren't good enough and we really didn't know where we were going and we certainly didn't have a GPS back then. What adventures we all had before GPS! I'm surprised we got anywhere although I have to admit I've spent a lot of time lost. That time we just weren't prepared. It took Karen and I quite a bit of time before we realized "port" in French did not mean harbor, but rather exit. Duh! I was driving, circling Paris in my Plymouth Voyager minivan and Karen was freaking out since we were totally lost. I was mainly concentrating on not getting into an accident. I finally stopped at a gas station in a tunnel and some immigrant from north Africa helped us get our bearings. We spent one night and were surprised to find that the French light the cathedral up at night like a haunted house. We found that bizarre although some young French boy really liked it and his was about the only French I understood:"C'est spectacular, c'est magnifique!" O.k., not very hard French. Englishman Malcolm Miller was still giving English tours and has been since 1956 and we went on his tour the next day. I took his tour in 1977 by accident and really enjoyed it. He seems a bit burnt out at this point and has probably had his fill of the same questions from tourists. I think he probably started doing it for love but now is basically in it for the money. He does not approve of the light show. We looked at the Cathedral is almost every way possible and I feel I don't need to get back there for a very long time and am happy we went. On the way out of town we stopped in a giant, modern French supermarket and the contrast really shocked Karen. The area around Chartres is old and protected and getting deserted and somehow like an middle ages amusement park. We even took a little train ride around. There were still restaurants near the church and we ate there before the unanticipated light show started. But we had the feeling not very many people wanted to live in the old houses with tiny rooms and nowhere to park.
Oh, and the whole giant church was built to honor a "piece" of the BVM's veil. And, according to an email I just got from Karen, we actually did circle Paris. And she says our little train ride was a near death, out-of-control crazy ass tram ride around the old town. And that the area around the cathedral is a medieval-themed amusement park.
It was in August, 2005, which was the first year we went to Kufstein. That first year we stayed in a cheap hotel in Kufstein and Rose and Patrick were along as well. It was our first trip into the Kaisertal and now KH and I go every August.
Once we got back from Austria, Karen and I went to see one of the best if not THE best Gothic cathedral in the world in Chartres an hour or so outside of Paris. I had been wanting to get back there for at least 25 years. It took us about eight hours to drive there mainly because we got lost and almost circled Paris. Our maps just weren't good enough and we really didn't know where we were going and we certainly didn't have a GPS back then. What adventures we all had before GPS! I'm surprised we got anywhere although I have to admit I've spent a lot of time lost. That time we just weren't prepared. It took Karen and I quite a bit of time before we realized "port" in French did not mean harbor, but rather exit. Duh! I was driving, circling Paris in my Plymouth Voyager minivan and Karen was freaking out since we were totally lost. I was mainly concentrating on not getting into an accident. I finally stopped at a gas station in a tunnel and some immigrant from north Africa helped us get our bearings. We spent one night and were surprised to find that the French light the cathedral up at night like a haunted house. We found that bizarre although some young French boy really liked it and his was about the only French I understood:"C'est spectacular, c'est magnifique!" O.k., not very hard French. Englishman Malcolm Miller was still giving English tours and has been since 1956 and we went on his tour the next day. I took his tour in 1977 by accident and really enjoyed it. He seems a bit burnt out at this point and has probably had his fill of the same questions from tourists. I think he probably started doing it for love but now is basically in it for the money. He does not approve of the light show. We looked at the Cathedral is almost every way possible and I feel I don't need to get back there for a very long time and am happy we went. On the way out of town we stopped in a giant, modern French supermarket and the contrast really shocked Karen. The area around Chartres is old and protected and getting deserted and somehow like an middle ages amusement park. We even took a little train ride around. There were still restaurants near the church and we ate there before the unanticipated light show started. But we had the feeling not very many people wanted to live in the old houses with tiny rooms and nowhere to park.
Oh, and the whole giant church was built to honor a "piece" of the BVM's veil. And, according to an email I just got from Karen, we actually did circle Paris. And she says our little train ride was a near death, out-of-control crazy ass tram ride around the old town. And that the area around the cathedral is a medieval-themed amusement park.
posted by Terry at 10:22 AM
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