Chartres!

My dad LOVES European churches, and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres is like the mother of them all. The Holy Grail, if you will. It indeed was the largest and most impressive cathedral I've ever seen!

The cathedral was built during the years 1193 to 1250, which is incredibly fast for this scale. The ceiling is over 120 feet high! The cathedral is really well-preserved, with most of the original stained glass windows and architecture. Right around when it was being built, the cathedral became a major pilgrimage destination because it has the Sancta Camisa, which is the veil Mary supposedly wore while giving birth to Jesus. After reading this in the guide, I was pretty interested in seeing this veil, but unfortunately they were doing restoration work on the area of the cathedral where it's usually on display, so it had been "mise en sécurité." What! I was pretty surprised they would put the cathedral's claim to fame into storage and not just move the display case. Oh well... The cathedral was amazing nonetheless!

I took a video because the cathedral was so big, I couldn't fit it into one photo.

Statues outside the doors 

Amazing stained glass!!!

The shiny white part where they're doing restoration work.

We also climbed up one of the towers and got an incredible view of the city of Chartres and the architecture up on the roof. So. Many. Stairs. I think I had to sit down at one point. Maybe two points. Somehow, I managed to take a few pictures despite being doubled over gasping for air.

À bientôt!

P.S. It was so warm today, I wore a t-shirt!!!!!!!!