End of part 2

Today was the last day of the second tour of our trip. We were up early (and bat free) heading back to Paris.

Along the way we had a stop in the town of Chartres (pronounced shart). Like so many other towns Chartres was badly damaged in WW2 but due to some quick thinking by a US Army officer in August 1944 the huge 12th century cathedral survived with minimal damage.

The first cathedral on this site was built in 4th century. In 876 Mary’s veil was given to the cathedral by the Pope - this is the veil Mary was supposed to be wearing when she gave birth to Jesus. It has been analysed and is from the first century and has plant material embedded in it from the Middle East so who knows!

This meant the small church that was there received lots of pilgrims. In the 11th century work started to build something a lot bigger. In 1020 to 1024 they started to build the crypt which was 225m long and 4m wide, in the 12th century the main facade was added which included the original plain steeple but the rest was mostly wood. In 1194 fire burnt the wooden sections but the stone crypt and facade stayed. The north steeple is gothic style and was added in the 16th century.

The cathedral is known for its blue glass but there are different tones as 12th century blue glass is brighter than 13th century blue glass due to the different process to make it. Not many windows remain from 12 century but the difference is quite clear.

The cathedral is in the process of being cleaned and it is much brighter after the cleaning. During the French Revolution many churches were destroyed and while this one was saved there was some damage as statues have had their heads knocked off.

After checking out the cathedral we were back on our way to Paris. The bus dropped us at our hotel and we said goodbye to our fellow travellers.

We went for a walk around the hotel and had to stop for an afternoon drink. Dinner was a pretty good spaghetti from the local Italian restaurant.Read more