Chartres

Steve and I went over to Bon Marche on Saturday. It’s a great store, but their food store across the street is even better. It’s actually a very close replica of Whole Foods, with endless gourmet offerings, a beautiful fruit and vegetable department, and a great prepared food section. It was also crawling with Americans. If we lived closer I would probably do a lot of my shopping there, so it’s good we’re not next door.

On Sunday we took an hour train ride to Chartres. The main attraction in Chartres is the cathedral, which is very impressive. The stained glass was like nothing I’ve really seen before, and the interior of the church was literally amazing. It was the most gorgeous spring day outside, but inside it was freezing and dark. Grace Cathedral and Chartres have a connection, including the labyrinth which Grace copied from Chartres. Because it was Sunday almost everything was closed in the town, but we walked all around and really enjoyed the day. It must be puppy season because we saw four yellow lab puppies – so cute! The town is very French, very old, and full of adorable winding roads, a stream crossed with beautiful old bridges every few blocks, and a lot of very well dressed French people out for a Sunday walk on a beautiful day. Steve was particularly happy because no one responded to him in English, which drives him crazy; although I maintain that the French are so polite that they are only trying to make him feel comfortable (because they assume Americans can’t really speak another language). I'll post pictures soon.