Day 1, Sunday May 4, 2014
We arrived in Chartres a couple of hours before we met the tour guide and tour group that would become a family over the next 13 days. After we checked into the Timhotel Chartres Chatelet, we took a quick walking tour about town. Some picture highlights are shown below.
We went back to the hotel at 5:00pm to meet our guide and the group. We were pleasantly surprised that our tour guide was Rolinka. We had Rolinka for a prior tour and we loved her! Rick's tours all have great guides and Rolinka is one of best. After meeting the tour group, Rolinka led the way to dinner. Rolinka surprised us after dinner by taking us to a great light show on the Cathedral. It was amazing - some pictures of the light show are shown below.
Day 2, Monday May 5, 2014
This morning we took a walk to the Chartres Cathedral for a tour by Malcolm Miller, an English scholar who dedicated his life to studying this cathedral. The original church on this spot burned down in 1194 and this cathedral was started the same year and finished in 1260. In 876 the church acquired the torn veil supposedly worn by Mary at the birth of Jesus which became the focus of worship. The photos below show the inside with stained glass windows.
After the cathedral tour, we had lunch. We then had a free afternoon to walk around town until 4:00pm. After that we had a visit to the International Stained Glass Centre. Here are some pictures from walking around town.
Here are some pictures from the International Stained Glass Centre below.
Tomorrow we head to Chinon with stops along the way at Amboise to view Leonardo da Vinci's home, and a stop at the very elegant Chateau de Chenonceau.