Comedy of Errors

(I'm a day behind... maybe I'll get caught up tomorrow morning!)

5 July 2016

I left the house with plenty of time to get to the train station and on the 9:06 train to Chartres.

The #91 bus was very crowded, but fine. I don't think Parisians sweat.

I figured out how to use the ticket machine at Gare Montparnasse, but it wouldn't take my debit card, the one card I was sure it would take since it has both a chip and a pin.

I went to the ticket window, but there was a line of course.

I got my ticket with three minutes to spare but couldn't figure out how to read the board (I don't think Chartres was the last stop for that 9:06 train)... and missed it. 

So I waited an hour for the next train. No big deal, as there was free wi-fi and my Aunt Mel had sent me a lengthy New Yorker article to read. :)

After finally figuring out how to validate my ticket - not that a conductor actually looked at it (but not that I would risk it) - I got on the train and everything went smoothly.

Then, when attempting to take my first picture of Chartres Cathedral, I realized I had left the memory card for my camera in my computer. After walking in circles a few times I found a place to buy an over-priced 4GB memory card.

I returned to the cathedral with about fifteen minutes to spare before the noon tour with Malcolm Miller. Except that the noon tour was canceled.

Le sigh. The best laid plans...

The good news is that I still thoroughly enjoyed the cathedral. I found it so much more interesting than Notre-Dame de Paris (this one is technically called Notre-Dame, too), and the stained glass is just as beautiful as Sainte-Chapelle, but less concentrated. I think I read somewhere that the stained glass at Chartres inspired Louis IX to build Sainte-Chapelle, but I might be making that up.

Soooo beautiful!

West façade (ca. 1150!!!) with mismatching towers... the tower on the left was topped with a Gothic steeple in the 1500s. This façade and the south tower were the only things to survive a fire in 1194; the new church was consecrated in 1260 - quite fast for medieval times. Chartres is more cohesive than most medieval churches that took a lot longer to finish.

West rose window (ca. 1215) from the inside in an unfortunately crappy photo. Someday I will invest in a tripod and/or actually learn to use my camera...

Slightly better views of the three lancet windows (ca. 1145!!) under the rose:

The window on the right is my favorite. We learned about it in a medieval music class, and talked about the chant that goes with it, about Jesus' lineage back to the "root" of Jesse. These 12th-century dudes were so literal..... (look closely)

 Center window

Left window

 

 Rose window (1235) in the north transept

South rose window (1225-30). If you look closely at the lancet windows underneath, it's the Old Testament prophets carrying the New Testament Gospel writers on their shoulders. 

Showing that on either side of the huge transept windows, there was more stained glass... the whole upper level had windows like these all the way around. Rick Steves says there's 28,000 sq. feet of stained glass. That blows my mind. 

 

Another of the four oldest windows in the church (upper part c. 1180). The blues are so incredibly beautiful. Helps that it's my favorite color!

Just down from the Blue Virgin Window is this one, with the signs of the Zodiac going up the right side, and the months of the year on the left. I don't think I've ever seen Zodiac signs in a church... have you?

 

All around the choir there were incredible sculptures (1510-1720?) featuring the life of Mary (including the non-Biblical stuff coming through church tradition), the life of Christ, then coming back to Mary at the end.

 Three wise men or three musketeers? 

 Doubting Thomas.

Ascension. I just love these, even if I feel terrible giggling at some of them!

 Mary dies and becomes Queen of Heaven. 

This cathedral was built to honor Mary and house this relic, supposed to be the veil/tunic she was wearing when she gave birth to Christ. I am exceedingly skeptical about these things (I desperately want to know how many crosses we could build with all the pieces of the "true cross," let alone all the nails in ancient reliquaries...), but interestingly, the material and weaving techniques do date to the first century!

The high altar. 

South façade. 

I think I'm going to have to go back to Chartres if there's enough money left at the end of the month (it is a €32 round trip from Paris). But I'll make sure Mr. Miller will be giving tours! I loved it so much, and who knows if I'll have another chance to come back. HIGHLY recommend this day trip!