Our trip to Chartres was so wonderful but it didn't start out very auspicious. We arrived at the train station and Danielle (the owner of the B&B) was not there. We tried to call a cab without any luck. Finally, Bev was able to get Danielle on the phone who said there was a friend waiting for us at the house.

We looked at a map on the board by the (empty) taxi cab station and found the street she lives on. It was behind the Cathedral, which dominates the town from every direction. So we walked up the hill and passed the Cathedral and there was a teenager walking along with his iPhone. We showed him the address and he looked it upon his iPhone and pointed us in the right direction.

Alan was waiting for us and showed us into a lovely room in a 17th century house. We then went over to the Cathedral and a very nice lady inside gave up a brochure and told us that Malcolm Miller would be there at noon.

Malcolm Miller has been studying the Cathedral for 52 years and gave us a magical tour for an hour. Then we had the best lunch so far in the Le Serpente across from the Cathedral with Alan and Hillary who where on the tour with us. They are from England and invited us to visit them there and see Winchester Cathedral in their home town.

This is the house across the street from Danielle's.

This is for Dwight. This truck was unloading
furniture on this narrow little street.

Here is the side entry to the Cathedral as we approached from Danielle's.

This is the newer spire in the Gothic style.

They have begun cleaning the Cathedral. You can see the upper area is beautifully light and airy. The lower area is how the uncleaned area looks. Malcolm says it will be finished in five years.

Here are some rose trees we passed on the way back to the B&B.

Looking down the hill in the opposite direction from the Cathedral.
 Danielle lives next to another old church.

The street sign on Danielle's street.

One of the best things about the stained glass windows is that the donors are protrayed in the lower panes so we see so much about the lives of the people in the 1300's.

Here is Danielle's place from one side

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The row of shops across from the Cathedral.

May 25 Versailles Amongst the Hoards

Versailles is one of the "country retreats" established by the Loiuses to get away from the stress and strain of despotic rule. Louis XIV was a major control freak who reigned for 72 years. His son never made it to the throne and his grandson, Louis XV, was so pathetic that he let the French Revolution happen under his nose while he was chasing Marie Antoinette around her three (mostly pink marble - not making this up) "country" homes. After the Louvre, these shacks are a bit of a let down despite massive amounts of gold sprinkled around.

I know this looks exactly like the Louvre but it really is Versailles.

We finally got to take some inside shots.  Here is the Hall of Mirrors, not where they signed the Treaty of Versailles.

This room is empty because it was corded off. This is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Not the Hall of Mirrors? Go figure.

 

One of the allegorical images by Charles LeBrun, all of which basically say, "We French rulers are better than the gods".

We took this picture for Ruth Klein because she likes malachite. There were approximately 4 tons of the stuff in this room.

 

We paid for and didn't get the Fountain Show. After trudging down to Marie Antoinette land and back, in time for the last half of the 3:30 to 5 pm show, we were told it went on 2-4 pm, probably the only time in history the French rushed anything. 

Bev waiting for JD to show up in Marie A's temple of Love.

Our favorite work of art in the area. The "gardens" looked to be larger than central park in NYC.

 This picture is for JD. Proof the French know how to live - why have one happy hour when you can have 4?

May 24 - Louvre Day Three - Walk like an Egyptian

Last day at the Louvre was a marathon on the Egyptian collection as well as Charles LeBrun (Louis XIVth favorite painter). We stumbled into these magnificent rooms at the end of the Egyptian collection which explained why it is so extensive. Each room was ornate and had a motif, some of which were Egyptian - and the originals collected in the rooms were the seeds of the collection which occupies endless rooms - I really mean endless.

This Cicero cracked us up since he's pointing down the stairs. It was so easy to get lost in there
we went up and down dozens of stairs only to end up back were we started. So we took Cicero's sign and finally were able to leave that section of the building.

This is a mirror reflection of Jupiter on the ceiling in one of the ornate rooms. The perspective in the mirror shows that this placement was totally intentional.

This is one of a group of immense "captives". The Frenchies were big on celebrating their victories, especially under Napoleon. 

Here is the dish on Musee du Louvre. This is in the hall of the Friends of the Louvre. If you donate enough dough you get you name in gold on the wall. The last entry was 2005 - probably the guy who bank rolled "Louvre Abu Dhabi" (Not making this up)

This is inside the pyramid. What a zoo. BTW, all the stuff in Da Vinci code about the Louvre is totally fictional including the modern security system. The only thing by the inverted pyramid in the basement that we could find was a bathroom - more precious than gold. The French seem to think 40 bathroom stalls for 40000 women is about right.

Not having enough elbows in the ribs at the Louvre we decided to take on Notre Dame - it was free and you get what you pay for. Here is the rosetta window behind "Our Lady" over the front door. What a really dark place.

 Finally back in one piece at the hotel. Thankfully, it is really across the street from the Louvre. We thought about going to the Eiffel Tower but it was a couple of bridges too far for us.

The lobby and one of the hard working concierges

May 23 - Louvre second day

Looking down onto one of the statuary courts

Bev outside Louvre, ready t get going

Outside the Louvre. You can see a bit of the pyramid to your left.

Tanya in front of one of the smaller pyramids. They make more sense from inside.

There is detail like this all over the place. They loved neoclassical imagery.

Up, down, up, down. All day long. There are a lot of stairs in this place. And we climbed em all!

Taking a break.

 

More stairs

On the Seine, this statue lit up in neon.

We couldn't take pictures of the pictures but we were overwhelmed by the shear number. And went home happy.

More Paris. more Louvre

After leaving the Louvre for the day, we went off for a walk across the Seine to Notre Dame. We heard the bells ring and ringing. There was this very long line of dressed up people waiting to go in.

Suddenly a procession of priests came by and into the church for high mass. Tanya remembered from the Rick Steves' book that this weekend was Pentecost.

Picnicing along the Seine.