And after a long day trekking through the Palace of Versailles, we piled into our trusty black Renault Clio, adeptly named ‘General De Gaulle’ (to truly capture its pure French awesomeness, it was a toss-up between this and Joan D’ Arc), and headed off into the French countryside.
We made our way through the north eastern area of Ile De France, passing the forest-rich town of Rambouillette which is known not only for its ancient history (the famous Castle and being an occasional seat of government under the ancien regime) but also for more recent events (the infamous 1999 NATO meeting which proved unsuccessful in averting the Kosovo war). Finally in the afternoon, with Shabbat preparations looming, we pulled into the wonderful city of Chartres.
Chartres is in the Eure-Et-Loir region of France and is known as the capital of ‘light and perfume’. It is the home of one of the oldest and best preserved cathedrals in France, believed to be the finest example of High French Gothic architecture and dating back to the twelfth century. Chartres is also one of the French medieval towns which pioneered the creation and development of the art of stain-glass.
We had a truly unforgettable Shabbat amongst the cathedrals and church bells of this historic place. The cathedral, although striking an imposing shadow over not just the town but the entire landscape surrounding Chartres due to its enormous size, emanates a warm and peaceful atmosphere around it. The Friday night on which we were there fell on the special ‘Water Festival’ that the town holds occasionally – where sections of the Eure river, which carve through the medieval ‘old town’ of Chartres, are illuminated by special lights and French bands play their music for the public along the banks. The city also has an on-going festival every night during the summer months where over 20 key monuments and buildings across Chartres are illuminated with special light shows to the rhythm of different music – a uniquely magical experience!
We spent most of the night walking around the town in the warm summer breeze, surrounded by dozens of other tourists and locals, stopping at each of the special sites and watching the dancing lights and music unfold the stories of the buildings and the town’s past. The bringing to life in such a modern way, with highly innovative and expensive light and sound technology, of the most ancient structures, and with such French flair, was a spectacular sight.
Gary and I even decided to stop and watch the dance and poetry performances happening outside the Chartres Cathedral, after which the crowd was invited to take a short tour. The instructions and descriptions of this tour were all in French and we did not really have the faintest clue of what was going on but, what with our impressive streak of free tour luck recently, we decided to tag along. To cut a long story short, and keeping my claustrophobia in mind, we nearly got locked in the largest crypt in France in the dark at around midnight. Luckily, we managed to spot a moment to break away from the group and free ourselves and with Gary’s superb navigation in the dark, we safely found our way back to our hotel.
The accommodation in Chartres was really affordable but very basic. I was quite impressed when Gary agreed to waive his strict ‘3 star minimum’ policy and stay at the ‘Le Boeuf’ Hotel (The Beef – we should’ve known!). This cute but very petit hotel was located right next door to the Dickens Bar (what the dickens?) which was seemingly the pumping nightly hotspot of Chartres. Returning from the near-crypt escapade we were needless to say very happy to see our hotel room. That is until turn-down, where Gary’s facial expression at the worn, holey sheets was a perfect picture of despair. After a few moments of recovery, he duly cracked open his Cape Union Mart ‘Extreme emergency Travel Sleeping Bag Inner’ and the two pillowcases he had snuck past me from home and he went to sleep in his sanitized cocoon. Hilarious!
The next day was spent Shabbos picnicking in the gardens beside the ancient Chartres labyrinth, in the warm sun with Nuns passing us by. We also got caught up in the retinue photos of not one but two exquisite weddings which had taken place in the cathedral. What a town!
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