Return to Chartres

When I was a student on study abroad in 2004, I spent a night in Chartres so that I could see the famous cathedral. I'd seen photos of it in humanities class at CSF (that mention may bring some nostalgic commenters out of the woodwork) and had harbored a persistent desire to visit ever since. Chartres cathedral, properly Notre Dame de Chartres, is much like France in general: it does not disappoint. Approaching it from the northwest by train was exciting--you can see it from a long way off, surrounded by fields of grain in the region called "France's bread basket." 

This time we came from Paris in a coach, so the cathedral wasn't visible till we got closer, but it was still exciting. Tour Guide Josh spent the ride giving us background information about the cathedral's history and its importance as a pilgrimage site ever since the days of Charlemagne. When we arrived he spent some time telling us about the elaborate carvings on the main doors and then a little bit about the stained-glass windows. Unfortunately we were reprimanded by a priest inside the cathedral because a group with more than 10 people is required to have a microphone-and-headset system to keep noise down. Josh knew this but thought he'd try his luck for a while. When his luck ran out we had already learned a lot!

So we had to split up to explore on our own, which is my favorite thing to do in a cathedral anyway. The air is cool, the columns are soaring, there are things to see all around you, and yet it all feels peaceful. It was as I remembered it--for the longest time I carried a memory of the smell inside the cathedral, and it still smells the same. But some things have changed. Starting in 2009, restoration work has been under way to clean and in some cases reprint the stone. Most people don't know (I didn't) that in the Middle Ages, cathedrals were brightly painted, inside and out. So those austere, creamy (or sooty if they haven't been cleaned yet) carvings and even the arches and columns themselves were originally bright-colored. The current restorations have found original paint in many places and have reprinted other areas according to careful research. The altar is now surrounded by cream-colored stone with the joints marked out in bright white, the columns painted to look like marble, and the keystones at the center of each arch accented in blue, red, and gold. It's completely incredible. 

I hope we go again next year when the restoration should be finished or nearly so. But I was glad to go today and see the "before" and the "after" at the same time. I also got to see the labyrinth again; it is only open to the public on Fridays. Today I did not walk it but several of the students did. It is a simple but appealing ritual. I will definitely do it next time. I did take a lot of pictures--I used to feel like it was disrespectful to take photos in churches but now I go ahead and do it if the church allows it (Sacre-Coeur, for example, does not). I am pretty proud of my photos but I've only seen them on the tiny screen of the camera so far.

After my visit to the cathedral I joined a few students at a café for lunch and had a cheeseburger and fries for the first time in a month. That burger was rare enough to make an American nervous but I loved it. It was actually strange to get a reasonable amount of fries that I could finish instead of the giant pile that one continues to pick at compulsively when no longer hungry. Food habits die hard; even the most avid Francophiles among us are starting to look forward to our favorite American treats. I find myself craving iced tea on these hot afternoons, and I want to go to Hacienda Vieja for a guacamole overdose as soon as I get back. Of course, I say that now but back in Macon I'll be wishing I could have just one more croissant and café crème.

We got back around 3:30 and I had to start packing because I am leaving Cité U. tomorrow. Vicki, Samantha, and Daniel arrive tomorrow and we are spending a further week in Paris, staying in an apartment that we rented through AirBnB. So right now while some laundry dries I am trying to discipline all the stuff I've spread around my room in the past month and corral it into my suitcase. Wish me luck--à bientôt!