Friday, May 17, 2013

Chartres Outtakes

As I said, these cathedrals are a pain in the neck














Our first day at Chartres, we had lunch at a place called Le
Pichet--recommended by two of our guidebooks--where
Vicki had the best beef bourgignon ever, and I had an onion
soup that would have embarrassed Campbell's

















Near the north side of the cathedral, Chartres
firemen practice their rappel skills



















Nearly every city, town and village in
France is covered in beautiful flower
gardens, but Chartres was exceptional




















Today's wedding photos are from the north
porch of Chartres cathedral



















In a stained glass shoppe adjacent to the cathedral; Vicki is
thinking seriously of taking it up...someday















And just off the cathedral square, a
classroom of the International School of
Stained Glass




















Same gargoyles that have adorned our bookshelves since
1979; probably the same gift shoppe too















Historic home of the Office of Tourisme in Chartres, the
Maison de Saumon; have I mentioned recently how
uniformly helpful and energetic these people are, everywhere
in Europe?

















Ever wonder what happens to all those little candles people
light up in churches?















Walking through Chartres' pretty downtown, a muralist
working on a new building



Our campsite at the municipal campground, the Bord du
L'Eure; we've been staying there from '79; the trees are larger,
but everything else is pretty much the same
















It's a  3k hike from the campground to the cathedral: first
through these luscious woods, then along the river Eure,
then into the old city; one of the more pleasant strolls to
a great destination














3 comments:

Tawana said...

Somehow I think that there are several posts with nothing in them...some wonderful glitch.

Mark said...

Sorry, we've had lousy wifi the last few days and I haven't been able to complete them. We are now in Honfleur, having done Caen, Deauville, etc. It's another French holiday tomorrow and everything here is choked with tourists. Probably 200 RVs at the aire de camping cars last night. Hopefully, I'll get caught up soon.

Tawana said...

Honfleur had changed so much when we were there last summer. It was not the wonderful, fun, quaint little town we used to love. All the little shops by the harbor were now restaurants, and it was so touristy. I wonder if Rick Steves did that to the town.

Good luck with the blog. You know that Wes and I love it.