A Visit to Chartres

My husband and I visited Chartres, one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world.  It was built in the 1200s. 

It's interesting to see the two towers that are asymmetrical.  One was built along with the cathedral (the one on the right) and the other (on the left) was built in the 16th century, and was one of the examples that really kicked off Gothic architecture. 

Of course, the entire cathedral is dotted with unique statues and gargoyles, making it really fun to look at.  Here's an angel sundial

and a gargoyle festooned in flowers - making it a little less menacing.

There are three main entrances.  The side entrance is almost as grand as the front.

Over each of the entrances is a rosette window.

One of the most famous pieces of stained glass in the cathedral is the Belle Verrière.  Mary is shown in blue, surrounded by a background of scarlet.  It was made around 1180!

One of the most impressive things for me was the choir screen.  In most cathedrals, it's made of wood, but here, it's made of stone.  It's amazing how these artists were able to make stone look like lace!  It took two centuries to complete.

Right now Chartres is undergoing some major restoration.  It's amazing how centuries of candle soot can gray the walls.  They are being cleaned and white-washed, and the result is presumably how the cathedral would have looked when it was new.  White and even brighter!  Amazing.

One of the amazing relics Chartres contains is a piece of the tunic Mary wore at Jesus' birth.

A chapel dedicated to the Virgin.

Chartres contains the largest collection in the world of 12th century stained glass.  Almost all of the windows were made in either the 12th or 13th centuries.  The windows were removed during both the World Wars so that they would not be destroyed. 

Another cool thing about Chartres is the labyrinth set into stone on the floor.  Unfortunately it was covered in chairs, but here is my husband walking part of it.

The back of the church is also pretty neat.

Bellow it lies a few terraces, and another "maze" cut into the plants.

We forked over the 7 euros to climb to the top.  The staircase was slightly terrifying, but the view was worth it, as well as being able to see the roof close up.

It gave us the opportunity to see more "lace rock" carved into the side of the cathedral.

But sometimes the passageways were narrow!

We climbed up the Gothic tower, which gave us good views of the older tower and the fine work on its top.

Back down in the village again, we can tell it's spring.  Vendors were set up everywhere selling beautiful flowers.

And another sign of spring: French people eating outside.  Sure, there were a few hardcore Parisians that would eat outside even in the dead of winter, but weather like today begged for everyone to do it.  We enjoyed ice cream and sat near the fountain watching all the people go by.

Wandering along the stream running through the town.

And seeing some of the cool (and old) half timbered houses!

Oh, the irony...

My husband and I recently went to see the movie Made in Dagenham, another great movie from the UK.  But unlike other movies I've seen from the UK, in this one, the actors spoke true ENGLISH, as in British English, complete with thick accents and British sayings that no American could hope to understand.  We found ourselves not being able to understand the English, so instead, we were reading the French subtitiles to figure out what was going on.

I never thought I would understand French more than English...

On Customer Service

In the US, we have a saying.  "The customer is always right."  While not all people in retail or in the food service have this outlook, there does seem to be a general pervading idea where you respect your customers, so they will keep coming back or leave you a better tip.

In France, service is included in your tab at a restaurant.  This saves a bunch of physics and math PhDs the awkwardness at the end of a meal of discovering they can't calculate 15% of their beer tab.  But it also means that the waiters will get tipped no matter how they treat you.  My husband and I recently went to a cafe.  We were told "Yes, you want to come in.  Sit here.  You want the cake."  I tried to find a menu, and when I couldn't, I walked up to the bar and squinted to read the drink menu posted in 8 point font on the opposite wall.  My waiter snuck up behind me and said "What are you doing?  We have tea.  We have coffee. What else could you want?"  Guiltily, I sank back to my seat, feeling bad I had actually wanted to know what they served.  And yes, we ended up getting the cake.

Or in the canteen, where the people who clean the dishes always yell at me in French when I put my tray up.  I have no idea why they are yelling at me... but one of them gave me a look of death that continues to haunt me to this day.  It turns out that I put my silverware on top of my plate, instead of to the side of my plate.  I didn't know this warranted the look of death, but apparently my new lifetime enemy thought it did.

Not to say all customer service is bad in France.  In fact, at my husband and my favorite restaurant, the waiter always treats us to a complimentary wine or dessert.  But that's why we keep going back!

Lost in Translation

Yesterday, one of my French friends, who has taken it upon herself to introduce me to the wonderful world of French food, came into my office and asked if I would like to try some of her next dish she will make... gopher.

Gopher?

Yes, gopher.

I find that the French are a bit more adventurous in their meat choices than Americans, but this didn't seem right.  I did a quick image search on google and this is what popped up:

 

"That's a gopher," I said.  

She said "What the heck is that?"  Apparently they do not have gophers in France.  But more importantly, that meant she did not want to feed me gopher.  

Phew.

She instead meant gaufre, which is French for waffle:

 Now that I will happily eat.  :-)

Le Marais

Bram and I took a tour of an area of Paris called Le Marais, on the right bank near Notre Dame.  One thousand years ago, a monastery existed on the island where Notre Dame is, and Le Marais was outside of town, a marsh (hence its name).  Over the years, people began to build there, and now a lot of old buildings now exist, telling of an era of kings and queens.

Many of the apartments that were built hundreds of years ago had the new stylish wrought-iron balconies, which were both pricey and attractive.

Paris doesn't have many half-timbered houses, but this is one of them, which is one of the oldest homes in Paris.

On many of the homes, heads are carved.  Many of them are Hercules.

In the courtyard of the first mistress of Louis IV.  

The Hotel de Sens.  It was built in the Italian style, which didn't worry about symmetry. 

This is the old city wall of Paris, which I never saw before that day.  

We found a store that was in the style of New Mexico! 

This area of Paris is filled with lots of alleyways and courtyards, that are like a maze.  They used to be filled with a lot of people of ill repute, so there were attempts to close them down.  Luckily for us, not all of them were destroyed, and now they are filled with expensive antique shops.

Down one of these alleys leads to a church, almost built into the buildings that surround it.

Inside the church.

The preacher was well known for his sermons.  He was a very animated speaker, and people used to come to hear him, but not really paying attention to what he said.  This is his bust, and this is where he used to preach.  Note the Holy Spirit on the podium.

The fonts for holy water were giant (real!) seashells which were gifts to the church.

Down one of the streets - typical Marais. 

This is the only (or one of the only) surviving statues of Louis XIV that he actually saw when he was alive.  The rest were torn down during the revolution, but this one was hidden away in an obscure courtyard. 

The central square.  The bottom floor of the building served as markets, and the taller building was the house of the king (on one side) and the queen (on the other).

An interesting wheel:

An interesting statue: