Filed under: Uncategorized
The day began in Chartres, a town about an hour and half outside of Paris. Chartres is home to one of the more famous gothic cathedrals in France, the others being Notre Dame in Paris, Amiens and Ste. Chappelle (which is more of a chapel). Chartres Cathedral was a pilgrammage church (which I didn’t really understand until I was there…) but residents of Chartres attend their local parish churches, not the big cathedral. Interesting.
Chartres cathedral from the south side - the west facade had scaffolding on it...note the different towers. The church originally burned down in the 1200s, and they managed to rebuild the whole thing in one generation - some 70 years. Amazing! The stained glass windows are difficult to capture in photo, but they are stunning inside.
Rib vaults in the ceiling of Chartres. The stained glass windows tell stories, though Ern and I weren't sure how people could see them. We couldn't really see them with our contact lenses in. I don't think the pilgrims had corrective lenses....
Interior of one of the local churches - St. Aignan Church - very colorful!
The interior of Chartres cathedral is also being restored with the years of dark dirt and grime being cleaned to reveal the creamy stone beneath. Here you can see an example of how brilliant and colorful a church interior could be at St. Aignan.'
It's difficult to capture the quality of light coming in from the windows (these weren't even stained glass), but the best I could do was here at this table covered with linen.
Chartres is divided in an upper and lower town. Upper being where the cathedral is and lower is where the river is. The river housed a number of businesses that were not so great for the river – butchers, fabric dying, tannery, but then those businesses moved out and they did laundry on the river until about the 1960s. Now it’s just a quiet picturesque part of town. Again, this was the Monday after Easter so the town was very quiet. I can only imagine how crazed it was the day before on Easter Sunday.
It's kind of ridiculous how serene this looks. I think it also had to do with the sunny weather.
And there's the cathedral from the lower town
Just as we were walking up, Ern noticed one of the tiled installations that I recall being highlighted in the movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which some believe to be a hoax by the artist Banksy, but it still highlighted work by this Paris urban artist who puts up these tiled pieces, some small some larger in urban areas. We saw some in Paris, one in Nantes and now this one in Chartres. All of the characters look like the pixelated characters from the game Space Invaders. Not sure if this is a real one, but I liked how it was tucked into the corner detailing. Ern’s feedback was that he liked the work – it was easy, simple, colorful and easy to understand.
Work of the public artist Space Invader?
For lunch, before we headed to Versailles, we voted for non-bread items and had salad. Salad Auvergne for Ern (salad with blue cheese, walnuts and egg) and a Salad Nicoise for me
Salade Nicoise
Then it was about an hour and 40 minute drive to Versailles with a bit of trafffic. When we pulled up into Versailles, we noticed how everyone had parked along the side of the D10 highway and that you could just walk in. I had forgotten the gardens were free, so we did the same, pulled the Citroen onto the curb and parked in the grass like everyone else.
I think Ern and I had had enough of each other and I was fixated on renting a bike to reach the far corners of the gardens while Ern wanted to walk and find a quiet place in the sun to read, so we split up.
In 2000, I came here with Sallie, Erin, Victoria and Mike. [Update: In 2000, Sunny and Anna were with us! I completely forgot which days we overlapped, but they were part of the cycling crew too! Apologies!!] We had stumbled upon the bike rentals near the end of our time at Versailles, so we only were able to bike for a short while, but I remembered thinking, “Next time, I’m at Versailles, I’m skipping the castle and just wandering the gardens”. I wish Sallie had been with me to explore, but I had a delightful two hours from 4:30 to 6:30 on the bike in the sunshine and warm weather just cycling to wherever I wanted to go. I went to the farthest ends of the grounds, at the ends of the axes of the canals to where there aren’t paved trails, just ruts in the grass. So far I even got stung by nettles and ran into dead ends. It was glorious and I just wished Sal had been there with me!
Can you see the chateau in the far distance? There's a long grassy lawn, then the two mile long canal, then some more gardens and then the chateau.
This photo's for you Sal! You really can't see the chateau now, my head is in the way....but I kid you not, the weather was so perfect, a dress and a scarf for color was all you needed to ride around for two hours.
On the far end of the gardens. Only ruts in the grass (I admit though, I took a small tumble when I couldn't stay on the path, sort of like getting your tire caught in the train tracks in South Lake Union - oh wait, I've done that too...) Anyhow, I have also learned, I must install a basket on my bike. It makes all the difference. Panniers be damned!
Towards the end of the day, the lines of trees with their geometric shapes continue to reinforce the axial views and forced perspectives.
And then my favorite picture of the day…
These two little boys were so enamored with whatever was on the video. The one on the left kept grabbing the boy on the right when he got scared. The boy on the right's body language is so engrossed in the video. Too cute.
I can’t describe the freedom I felt just pedaling around on the bike. I could ride away from crowds near the canal and find my own little corner of the gardens. Way out, there is wild anise/fennel flowering. The weather in France has been summer-like, except that it’s spring and the flowers are all blooming. It’s like there’s a nice bubble over France as the rest of Europe is still about 10 degrees cooler. I met up with Ernie at 7:30 after my afternoon of riding and I felt refreshed. I also slept really well that night.
Off to Italy…(but returning to Paris in a week!)
A bietot!
3 Comments so far
Leave a comment
You look so relaxed and happy. I’m glad you’re finally getting a chance to take a break!
But I have to ask: what’s up with the bikini-clad Asian female model on the left corner of your website where it says Flickr Photos? I was a little taken aback by it. And yes, maybe I clicked on it. Don’t judge; you would do the same if it were on my blog!
Comment by Jane from Boston April 27, 2011 @ 12:02 amMarlene! I would have LOVED to have been there with you. This post brings back fond memories of that time in 2000 when we were there. Biking was the best way to spend time in Versailles. And you look very chic in your scarf and sunnies.
We do need to plan another “betrayal” (that’s what Fede calls it when I go on vacation without him–like the time when we went to Toronto). Maybe you can come to Australia–and then the two of us can go somewhere in SE Asia?
The Chartres cathedral looks amazing. Maybe binoculars would have helped to see the stained glass? Don’t they do that at Ste. Chapelle?
Comment by Sallie April 27, 2011 @ 2:40 amWe did a France Roadtrip in 2005. Paris-Reims-Dijon-Ronchamps-Dijon-Orleans-Chartres-Mont St. Michel-Paris. What a great couple of weeks!
Loved your photos!
Comment by JI December 8, 2011 @ 4:45 pm