Our pilgrimage to Chartres on Wednesday

Europe has public transportation systems completely foreign – pardon the pun - to most Americans. During our time in Paris, we’ve taken advantage of them all. We’ve ridden the Metro (subway) every day, many times a day, taken a 15-minute RER train ride to Versailles, an hour-long bus ride across Paris through thick traffic and Wednesday rode the luxurious SNCF train about an hour to Chartres.

The cityscape soon turned to beautiful French countryside as our train sped along. We even caught a quick glimpse of Versailles and its grand gardens out the window. This and the trip to Versailles gave me a taste of the France surrounding Paris. I really enjoyed seeing the small villages and country homes along our route.

After walking only a few blocks from the train station in Chartres, we soon and easily spotted the non-identical twin steeple spires of the famous Chartres Cathedral over the rooftops of the town. Very near the cathedral was the local tourism office where we picked up a map showing the cathedral and a self-guided walking tour of other local sites of interest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartres_Cathedral)

The cathedral was to be our focus for the afternoon. Well, to be honest (and this won’t surprise you) we were going to focus on it right after we found some lunch.

Kelley had visited the town many years ago and remembered a café named Le Serpente that we soon located. The café is literally in the shadow of the cathedral which helped me overlook the fact that it’s name was “The Snake.”

The sun was out and we could tolerate the sporadic breeze, so we chose to sit outside and take in views of the south side of the church. (http://leserpente.com)

As the typical French people we had become (in our minds at least), we ordered more of the classic French fare we’d enjoyed on this trip. For me a slice of goat cheese quiche and salad, for Kelley a “sandwich camembert” which is butter and camembert cheese on a baguette. Oh and of course our customary café au lait (for me) and pression, or draft beer, for him. We both pronounced our lunch delicious and just the fuel we needed for our tour of the church.

Nancy and Neil had suggested we take a guided tour, preferably given by a well-known British expert and author of books about the cathedral, Malcolm Miller, but unfortunately tours in English don’t start until April (more into their tourism season) and Mr. Miller wasn’t there.

Thankfully the cathedral offered audio guides and a map so we had the next best thing to a personal tour. Also, since March isn’t a big month for tourism, we were two of only about 20 visitors, which let us take in the cathedral at our own pace.

On this vacation we had already been inside St. Chapelle and Notre Dame, though we hadn’t had a guided tour of either. Listening to the history of this cathedral, the several times it had been burned or otherwise damaged, how many craftsmen and parishioners had donated time and resources to its construction, reconstruction and maintenance, plus learning it had been the destination of thousands of Christian pilgrims over centuries made this particularly enchanting place of worship very special to us.

The craftsmanship in the stained glass and in the literally thousands of sculptured scenes and figures inside and outside make this cathedral a place every visitor to France should put high on their list.

All cathedrals have sculptures and stained glass, but this one also has an enormous labyrinth. I had read about it but thought it would be in a room by itself or outside. So I was surprised when our audio guide revealed the labyrinth was inlaid into the stonework design in the floor. It wasn’t easy to spot at first because the hundreds of wooden chairs were set in rows on top of it, standing ready for mass. (Many other photos of the Chartres labyrinth are available here: http://tinyurl.com/Chartreslabyrinthpics )

Christians have been walking labyrinths in their cathedrals for centuries. Walking along the maze-like circular pattern simulates a pilgrimage to Jerusalem or is used as a path for meditation and prayer. The Chartres labyrinth is one of the largest Medieval labyrinths still in existence. Feeling its worn stones under my feet offered a tactile link with centuries of Christians and their search for enlightenment and peace.

If a visitor to France tours just one cathedral, this should be it. It’s important to see the famed Notre Dame in Paris from the outside, but spending time in the Chartres cathedral is an experience no one – certainly neither Kelley nor I – will ever forget.

(Friday night note: We’re home! Our flight across the pond was smooth as silk and we’re happily back in The Natural State. I’ll be catching up on lagging blog entries over the next few days. Thanks for following our trip!)