A Brief Visit To Chartres

Dear Mother,

Our days have been absolutely filled with work, activities, and now, a bit of travel.  On Tuesday, we joined the Bloughs and Constance (one of the profs in Janie's doctoral programme--she is graduating in days).  We piled into the car, wended our way through some heavy traffic, and then the roads finally opened up for good driving.  The day was overcast, even though all of our various weather apps predicted solid sunshine.  Don't believe everything you read.

We arrived by about 11:30 or so, parked underground, and walked uphill (all cathedrals seem to be uphill).  I enjoyed glancing down the narrow side streets of this medieval city.  The homes may no longer be medieval, but the street widths certainly can be.

We heard that when some people had walked from Paris to Chartres, they could see the towers from miles away.  

I spent a little time by myself on the south porch before entering.

Even though the day was overcast (and Janice would later be caught, far from the safety of the cathedral, in a downpour), the newly cleaned windows had good colour.

 The renovations on the ambulatory (where one can amble or walk around the apse) are nearly finished.  This was the first time I had seen the cathedral without scaffolding inside and out.  We were lucky.  In the fall, most of the nave will be covered with scaffolding and enormous plastic sheets.  They need to repair more of the plaster, clean more of the windows, and do some painting.

We heard Mr Miller give another of his lectures.  He has adopted Chartres as his home, though he is from Durham, England.  He has been giving these tours in English for 55 years.  He knows a lot, but I would like to have him give me a private tour so that anytime he tells me something I already know, he could move into more detail that would be of interest to me.  His audience (50 that day?) includes people seeing their first cathedral, tourists who never read about Chartres, and others.  He now speaks softly into a microphone and we hear him on headsets.  This meant that I heard everything he said (and each of his very loud coughs).  He is a marvelous institution, and we found that his interpretations of the windows and porch carvings are well-based on medieval understandings of theology.

After a delicious lunch (crêpes), I headed back into the cathedral while Janice explored the town.  I was delighted to be able to hear the organ!  It took me a while to realize that there was a funeral in progress, that the people were leaving while the organ was playing.  The great back doors were opened in honour of the deceased (I had to wonder if the Bishop of Chartres had presided, since doors are always opened for bishops) and people moved out into the rain.

Lots of candles were lit, possibly in honour of the deceased--entire banks of them, and there were surely not that many tourists present.  I enjoy the soft candle light and wonder what the cathedral would have looked like at night, lit only by candles.

The Bloughs and Constance drove back early afternoon, in order to miss rush hour traffic, and we lingered in the city, eventually taking the train back.  That proved more difficult that usual.  In the rain, and without a good sense of direction, we stoically marched off in the wrong direction.  Possibly 30 minutes later, we knew we were lost for sure and started asking directions.  I could tell from their puzzled looks and hesitations that there would be many twists and turns ahead.  Finally, I turned on my phone's data service and got directions from a good map.  It was a great day, Janice dried out, and we got back before all the stores had closed.  This let up pick up a few things for a light supper.

Today we are in the Belfort-Montbéliard region.  We are to meet with Hélène Widmer this afternoon.  She is a distant relative of Janice's and will be showing us some of the ancestral villages.

All for now, with love from us both,
Evan