Day Trip to Chartres Cathedral

On Saturday we hopped on the train out of Paris to visit The Notre Dame Cathedral in the nearby town of Chartres.  We had heard of this church before but were convinced we should go when Graham's french teacher referred to it as having the most spectacular stained glass windows in France. Our guidebook also cited the town as being very pleasant.

 

On the slick TER double decker train.

Notre Dame

South facade.

The crowning glory of this cathedral is the complete set of huge 13th century stained glass windows that fill every part of the building.  They are absolutely stunning.  


The church has been dubbed a true "bible in stone" because each window tells a story which can be read from left to right, bottom to top.  We spent quite a while picking out bible stories from the many beautiful windows.  Here are few pictures I've found online, but they don't do justice to the number and scale of the windows.

photo by Cadman

photo taken from here

photo by Walwyn

Lovely medieval building called "Salmon House"

Salmon!

We have noticed many different varieties of hydrangia in France, so lovely.

Beautiful clock tower on the North facade.

Standard Graham photos of the train station at Chartres (yes, we have one from most stations we have waited at while on holiday.  Yes, I do try to delete them afterwards)

This is another standard travelling photo.  

It is me in the middle of saying "please don't take a picture of me".  

Yes, I do also delete these.