Chartres

          So, as I sit in my bed, watching the Olympics, and recovering from my recent wisdom teeth surgery, I realized this is the best time to stop procrastinating and write more of my blog!  

           On Thursday (June 28th), we went to Chateau de Vincennes.  This is an old castle that was later turned into a jail.  It was built in 1150 for Louis VII.  Many kings and important people were born and lived in the castle.  It later became a fortress and jail for Henry IV.  Also on the grounds is a beautiful chapel with incredible stained glass windows. 

          Unfortunately, my camera was on the fritz that day and I wasn't able to take pictures!  I'll include some picture I found on Google so you'll at least get to see what it looks like...

This is the castle.

And the chapel

           The next day (Friday June 29th), we took a field trip to a small town outside of Paris called Chartres.  Chartres is home to the most beautiful Gothic style church called Notre-Dame de Chartres.  Chartres is an important church in Catholicism.  It became a place of pilgrimage when it acquired the Sancta Camisa in the 9th century.  The Sancta Camisa is believed to be the shall worn by Mary at the time of Christ's birth.  The church has burned down by fire many times, and nothing of the original church, except a few stained glass windows, remains.  The architecture of the towers, or spires, shows the multiple stages of construction.  The two spires have different styles.  The right is a plain pyramid dating from the 1140s and the left is from the early 16th century and is the more flamboyant spire that sits on top of an older tower.

          It took about an hour to get there by bus.  Once we did, we were given a few hours to explore and get lunch before we had to meet up for our walk.  Before getting lunch, a few of us walked around the church. 

           Notre-Dame de Chartres is know for its beautiful and very old stained glass windows.  They all had specific names, but I forgot to write them down:(

          Once we finished walking around, we noticed we could walk up the left tower.  I was super excited for it, but as we made our way up I started to lose my excitement.  Flash backs of my horrible memories of climbing the Statue of Liberty flashed before my eyes.  It didn't help that the stairs were spiral and had the tiniest railing, almost nonexistent...

          Anyway, once were got to the first balcony and the top, it was kind of cool:)  We could see all of Chartres and beyond.

The Flying Buttresses at the first balcony

Climbing the stairs

At the top

          Luckily, we ate lunch AFTER we climbed the spires...  After lunch, we met the rest of the group for our walk.  We walked around the church, through the town, and visited a few other smaller churches in the town.

This is the church of Saint Aignan.  The outside looked really plain...

...but the inside was incredible!  Teo told us that all Medieval churches were painted like this, both on the inside and out.  So cool!

Dr. Jones would be proud

The Church of Saint Peter.  There was a Medieval tomb in here!  All the signs were in French, so I didn't really know what was going on, but it looked cool.

Some stained glass in Saint Peter.

The town of Chartres was super cute.  It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast.

Behind Notre-Dame de Chartres

          This labyrinth is very important to the town and the church. It is all over the town and is in the center of the church as well.  As you walk it, you're suppose to contemplate your life and when you get to the center, you're suppose to reach a sense of enlightenment.  I didn't try it, so I don't know if it works or not...

          That was it for the day.  We went back to the hotel and hung out for the rest of the night.  Hopefully I will write again soon.  Until then, au revoir mes amies!