I had to write a separate post about the Chartres Cathedral. We read about the Chartres Light Show displayed every night on several buildings in the city of Chartres. So we left Paris a day early to spend one night in Chartres to see the illumination. I’ll get to that shortly.
The train to Chartres was a little more than an hour. Chartres is a small cozy village/town that we fell in love with because it was not a huge city. We were tired of walking around Paris after five days. This was a nice break. The first thing I did when I got off the train was get rid of the stupid hat I was wearing. It was a light colored hat with a wide brim and black ribbon around it. Perfect look for a tourist idiot. I put the hat on a small post outside the train station. Since there weren’t any homeless people lying around like Los Angeles, I thought maybe another traveler as dumb as me might pick it up and enjoy it.
Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first cathedral was built in the 4th century when Gaul was part of the Roman empire. The Vikings destroyed it in 858 A.D.; then immediately rebuilit in 864. In 876 someone named Charles le Chauve died and passed on a relic of the Virgin Mary—her veil. Chartres was consecrated to the Blessed Mother and became a popular pilgrimage site. A fire detroyed the Cathedral in 1194 and was rebuilt between 1210 and 1260. For more history go here.
We came for the lights and it was well worth it. The light show was displayed on 21 separate buildings. We spent almost two hours staring at the lights shown on the Cathedral. It was one of the most impressive shows I’ve ever seen. We were mesmerized. The lights told the story of the history of the Cathedral. Here is one 43 second video; it’s worth the watch.