Sleepless in Chartres

Approaching the Magnificent Mont St. Michel
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It seems like a long time since we have updated our journal. A week goes by quickly in Canada. One looks back at a week and wonders where the time went so quickly, As we travel, however, we look back and think, “Wow! Was that only a week? So much has happened, and we’ve seen so much!”

Last Sunday we were spending our last day in France. We had spent most of Saturday driving after visiting the amazing Mont St. Michel in the morning. Mont St. Michel is an abbey, church and village built entirely on a rock in the middle of the delta. It was started in the 900’s AD and is a marvel of construction and engineering. One has to see it in order to believe it! And a lot of people do come to see it! It has become a MAJOR tourist destination; but rightly so.

Adventure is what we came for, and this was going to be part of the adventure!

The Chengs with Joan of Arc
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Having finished with Mont St. Michel (and the many tourists) by lunchtime, we felt it would be best to drive as far as we could towards Paris. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, and the villages we passed through were utterly quaint and unspoiled. As evening approached, however, there were just a few things that we longed to see. Those included a gas station, someplace to eat dinner and someplace to sleep the night. All seemed elusive. Beautiful scenery and quaint villages in France have none of the above! To make matters worse, the Tour de France was still in the neighborhood and likely taking up some accommodations, and if they weren’t all of the rest of the hotel rooms in the larger centers we passed through were filled up with people coming to participate in or watch a 24 hour race at Le Mans. Fortunately, the days are long and we had much daylight in which to travel, but eventually it was getting dark and late and we still were unsuccessful in find accommodation or food. By about 10:30 pm we finally found a McDonalds (can you believe being joyful about that?!) in Le Mans, but no rooms in the inn. So on we drove until we finally go to Chartres, our final pre-Paris destination where we hoped to see the Chartres Cathedral with it’s famous stained glass windows. By now it was about 1:00 am and after driving through the sleeping village of Chartres we figured we might as well do the same and just sleep in the car. Adventure is what we came for, and this was going to be part of the adventure! Four people sleeping in a tiny Peugeot makes for cramped and stiff bodies in the morning, and by 6:00 we were again cruising the streets of Chartres ready to be there when the first place opened that sold coffee or breakfast food. A patisserie was easy to find with its fresh baked selection of delectables, but the only coffee to be had was from a vending machine at the train station. No matter. It’s part of the adventure!

The Cathedral at Chartres
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We had come to see the cathedral of Chartres, and it being Sunday, what better way to see it than to attend a mass. The kids were game while David chose to stretch out in the Peugeot by himself. The first mass of the day was a Gregorian mass at 9:15 and it was a beautiful experience. Karsten and Stephanie tried to stay awake, and the constant rising and sitting of the congregation helped a bit, but at times I had bobbing heads on either side of me. Can’t blame them this time. But the combination of the acoustics, the beautiful sounds of the French and latin kyries , the dignity of this very old building and the beautiful stained glass made this a very special experience.

One of the Beautiful Stain Glass Windows at the Chartres Cathedral
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We were happy to find 2 rooms in a hotel later that day, and we spent some time napping and packing for our next leg of the journey; Romania.