Day 4 - Chartres, Nevers

We left La Ducrie this morning and headed to Chartres Cathedral.   Mark had read about an old English gentleman who gave really good tours of the Cathedral.  When he had mentioned this to his sister, Nancy, she said Malcolm Miller (the guide) had given her semester abroad group a tour 35 years ago!  So I guess he knows his stuff.

We raced to make it to the Cathedral by noon.  We followed our GPS lady’s instructions, but we became concerned about the route she had chosen for us.  We seemed to be going along many country roads.  This was nice for seeing quaint French towns, but we were under a time crunch.  It dawned on us that we needed to change the setting on the GPS from “shortest route” to “fastest route.”  We didn’t have a good map of France, also a mistake.  We remedied that at Chartres. (pictured below)

Our tour with Mr. Miller was very good.  He pointed out lots of architectural details and talked about the building of the Cathedral.  Then he explained some of the stained glass windows.  I just love stained glass windows.  He pointed out one stained glass window depicting in panels the story of the Good Samaritan.  In the same window is the story of Adam. 

I remember reading an article in BYU Magazine years ago about this very window.  The author of that article and Mr. Miller both emphasized how in medieval times everyone realized the connection between those two stories.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is about Man’s journey to earth.  Going down from Jerusalem (heaven) to Jericho (earth) he falls among thieves (sin).  The Samaritan (hated, shunned) takes him to an inn (gospel) where his wounds are taken care of (repentance) by the innkeeper.  The Samaritan gives the innkeeper money to take care of him and promises to return in 3 days to pay the debt (atonement).   That’s just a brief summary, but you get the idea.  Here is part of the Good Samaritan panel.

 

Here is part of the Adam panels:

 

I also love the sculptures on the sides of the doorways.  Here is one with (from left) Melchizedek, Abraham (with Isaac), Moses, Aaron, and David.  Did you know that the outside sculptures reflect the subject matter of the stained glass windows that are just inside on the same wall?  I didn't!

Back in the car again, this time with a map AND GPS, we headed to Nevers.  The main reason for this trip is because we have been invited to participate in Mark’s client’s bike ride.  Headquarters for this company is in Nevers, France and this is where the ride will take place.  We are considered VIPs for this event, which is always good.  I will forgo mentioning the name of the bicycle company (learned a lesson from the car rental company’s comments on my blog!) but you’ll be able to tell from the pictures.

When we got to our hotel rooms, it was like Christmas morning!  Our bikes that they were providing us with were in our rooms as well as a gift bag for each of us containing new bike outfits and water bottles.  Here is a picture of Mark and David looking very tough:

 

Our hotel is right next to the Loire River.  Here is a view from our window:

We attended a dinner for all of the VIP.  There were a few other English speakers who sat with us, including the president of the company and his wife.  This was another very long dinner with all of the courses (cheese course comes just before dessert!) and we promised David that it would be the last long dinner he’d have to sit through.  But he’s been doing well and has been such a good sport.

Oh, and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.