Chartres

As we are quickly running out of weekends in France (we only have 6 weeks left!!!) we've been more keen on trying to squeeze in more day and weekend trips. Because Matthew flew in yesterday and it does take a while to get from the airport to Paris and settled in, we decided to try to do a day trip today.

Our original plan was to go to Château de Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte which are two amazing castles very close to each other and would be a great day trip from Paris. Unfortunately Vaux-le-Vicomte is closed for the winter, and won't open up until March 9th. As it's considered one of the best castles in Europe, we didn't want to miss it, and decided to put it off until then.

Instead we took a train to Chartres to check out a quaint French village, and what is widely considered to be the most well preserved medieval cathedral in Europe: Notre-Dame de Chartres. It's a  UNESCO World Heritage Site that was built in the 1200's.

The train took about an hour and 15 minutes to make the journey from Gare Montparnasse. The cathedral is then about a 5 minute walk from the train station. The outside is fairly impressive, mostly because of the ornate sculptures on it's 3 façades. Most churches only have 1 façade. But the inside is the most spectacular because of the stained glass. It's one of the most well preserved churches in Europe, and so some 80% of the glass is original. During WWII the villagers actually removed the glass and buried it with sand bags to preserve it. It's not quite the overwhelming spectacle of Saint Chapelle in Paris, but it's very impressive in its own right.

We did an audioguide tour, and then walked up the bell tower (7.50 euro a piece though!) for some great views of the countryside, and even a rainbow that formed over the town which was really pretty. The town itself is really cute, and there's a little stream that winds through the city making it even cuter. Dinner near the cathedral was nice (roasted turkey in gravy and mashed potatoes, it was like the Thanksgiving meal I wish I'd actually had on Thanksgiving!). Keep track of the time though, as I wrote down before hand the train times leaving Chartres for Paris as they don't come that often on Sunday, so it's only about one an hour.