September 19

This morning was as amusing as the previous breakfast with Danielle and Kin again holding court at the Vieille Digues B&B. I finally had to ask if Kin had spent time in America because, for a Vietnamese “Chinaman” (his words) living in France, he used some rather salty American slang. In addition, he would say, “guys” and “screwed by the government”. Two phrases not used in British dialect. Yes, he spent 10 years in the US. For Ann Neel: This B&B in Rick’s guidebook is a real keeper. This is THE place to stay in Mont St. Michel! Apparently, Rick walked in one day when the mother-in-law was there, not the owners who were away. She had no idea who Rick Steves was but apparently impressed him. He returned a couple of years later when they were there. Danielle said MANY Americans, especially from Seattle come to stay due to his recommendation.

Today we drove the four plus hours to Chartres to see the cathedral. After reading Ken Follett’s books Pillars of the Earth and the sequel, World Without End, a fictionalized account of the building of a cathedral in 11th and then 13th century England (No, it really was fascinating for a medieval history geek – all 2000 pages!), we wanted to see this one. His books are uncannily similar to the history of the building of Chartres.

Anyway, the cathedral is magnificent with 179 stained glass windows dating mostly from the 12-13th centuries. After war broke out in Europe, WWI and WWII, all of the stained glass was removed from the church and stored in a safe place, painstakingly replaced when peace broke out.

Since there was to be a lightshow on the cathedral at 9pm we headed to our hotel outside of the city. Using our trusty GPS lady with the British accent we left town. Well we tried to leave town. Through the narrow winding streets adjacent to the cathedral we drove first once around the huge church then again around it using mostly the same streets. On the third go-round we wised up (better late than never). We had programmed in our hotel but I never pushed the final button. The GPS lady must have been frustrated taking us as close to the cathedral as she could (the destination was still the cathedral) but we kept “passing” it and needed to go around again. I think I heard the GPS lady whisper “Dumb Americans” at one point but I am not sure. We changed the destination and got to the hotel easily.

The hotel is a businessperson hotel on the outskirts of town in a light industrial area, ultra sleek and modern and ultra energy efficient. The free internet access was a bonus. We ate dinner there and went back into town finding the cathedral easily. There, we were stunned by the music and light patterns projected onto the façade of the cathedral in the pitch black of the night. What a sight. That sealed the deal. Chartres was well worth the detour.