On the was back from visiting the Circuit de Sarthe, the race course of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I stopped at Chartres Cathedral. It is one of not the greatest example of French Gothic architecture. The cathedrals at Reims and Amiens also have a claim to French Gothic supremacy.
I first heard of this cathedral from Professor Theodora Graham in one of my first college classes at Penn State. She explained the architecture and the devotion of those who built it, many of whom would not see it completed.
The cathedral sits atop a steep hill in a little town that is 80 kilometers southwest of Paris. The narrow roads and remote location keep the tourist traffic to a tiny fraction of the millions who swarm Notre Dame Cathedral in the center of Paris.
Forty years after I first heard of Chartres and saw images from a slide projector, I finally got to walk around the cathedral on a sunny afternoon. I spent most of the time looking up, which is what the designers intended.
Posts about traveling in France and neighboring countries in February 2022:
My favorite restaurant is a victim of COVID.
The Waterloo Battlefield.
The Red Baron Memorial.
High Performance Cars in a garage in Versailles.
Talking about Fathers and Careers at lunch.
