Caen Memorial

So we departed Chartres, intending to stop in Evreux and see the cathedral there. But the traffic was heavy, the streets narrow, and there were no parking areas available near the church. Seems the circus was in town. So we drove on to Caen, spending a night at a camper store/aire there, and then another at the aire next to the Caen Memorial. Daughter Rachel had urged us to see the Caen Memorial, and that was our goal. Over the years, we have seen many WWII museums, in France, and Germany, and England; and even the US, though such museums are fairly scattered there. Somehow, in all our travels, we had always missed Caen and its Memorial. It is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive of the many Normandy museums, and we are glad to have finally made it. Alas, we had to share the museum with many thousands of French high school students and did our own visits in off-peak waves. We have visited many museums with many school groups over the years, and I have to say that these French kids were absolutely the most focused and well-behaved I have seen anywhere. Never a smart phone in sight. Completely on task with their assignments. Still, their numbers were overwhelming.

Main building of the Caen Memorial

Outside sculpture

Main lobby

A Hawker Typhoon strafes the information desk; a failure in
the air, the Typhoon was relegated to ground support and
museum use; but it was the P-47 Thunderbolt that earned
the appellation "tank-killer"

The museum uses just about every medium to tell its
multiple stories

Thus

A German "Enigma" coding machine;
the Brits broke the code(s) early in the war
and read German naval dispatches almost
contemporaneously throughout the war; and
did not reveal this fact until many years later

Abbey Church of St. Pierre in Chartres

So we were walking the 3k from the campground to the cathedral in Chartres, along the river Eure, minding our own business, just entering the old town when

What's that?!

And just a few blocks from the cathedral

It's the formerly Benedictine abbey church of St. Pierre in the
Valley; now a parish church (it said), seized in the
Revolution when the abbeys were abolished; it's tower is
10th century, the rest 12th and 13th, just a generation or so
younger than Chartres Cathedral

Wider view, from the north

Closer view of the tower, built when memories
of Viking raids were still quite fresh (the last
one in the 940s as I recall)

Archeological display in the tower

So anyhow we went in, despite strained eyes and wrenched
necks from nearly a day at the cathedral

And were rewarded with another unheralded surprise, a
rayonnant Gothic church, beautiful windows done presumably
by the same folks and workshops that did the cathedral's

Thus

And thus; note the elevation, aisle, blind
triforium, clerestory windows

Of course after a while you begin to notice the
nave is under a massive net; things are falling
down; just small things, let us hope

View from the choir back to the tower;
things may not have altogether fit...

Still, gorgeous 12th and 13th century windows

Still standing up

It must be tough to be just "another" Gothic in Chartres

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

Chartres Sculpture

Chartres 12th-13th century sculpture is relatively well-preserved, considering the ravages of time, religious wars, revolutions, and other matters. The choir screen is 15th-16th century, the lives of Mary and Jesus, but also of interest.

South portal, a bit of construction still going on

Judgment, again

Anatomically incorrect sinner/devil

North porch

Light in the north transept

Jamb statues

Vicki maintains this gargoyle/downspout was a gift of the dental labs of Chartres

At Chartres, the buttresses become more than architectural: they become objects
of art...

At the west end, yes, it's a Mary church

Architecture: in the seven liberal arts archivolt

Grammar: a caution to anyone who would teach language...

Zodiac in the archivolt

More jamb statues

Alive and in conversation with one another...this is new in
western art

Unusual Nativity

Writer

Janus/January

A secular character

And some things you don't know what to
make of...

Finally, in the 16th century screen, one of the disciples has lost a contact

But, miraculously, Jesus finds it and puts it back in...