This morning I planned to wake up early so that I could get over to the cathedral by the time the North Clock-Tower was supposed to open. I'd brought my alarm clock along, but I had to reset it before I went to bed since I'd taken out the batteries for traveling.
I mention this, because I ended up accidentally setting it an hour early. I woke up unawares, got showered, worked on getting myself together... and then realised that it was an hour before I had to be anywhere near ready. So, I napped a bit, and then got up and got dressed. I went down for breakfast at the hotel (which, for future reference, the convenience is probably not worth the 7 Euro). I had a croissant with some honey and applesauce and orange juice, and headed back to the cathedral.
I wanted to wear my black slacks today, but I realised when I went to put them on that the basting stitch Gramma used to hem them to my short was coming loose, and the hem was flopping around. I saw a Singer store when I was out and about yesterday, so I decided to go looking for it first. I wandered a lot, and found the apparent shopping district of Chartres, but I couldn't find the store. I did see a beautiful flower market, though, and was really tempted to buy myself some tulips (they were only 5 Euro...) but I resisted the urge. I also saw an adorable little girl who looked to be around six, walking a big brindle dog that was about as tall as she was. :)
Eventually I just headed back in the direction of the cathedral, unknowingly passing right by the Singer store without noticing. >.> There wasn't anyone at the desk where you pay to go up in the Tower, so I kind of looked around trying to find someone, before finally a guy came over. I told him I'm a student, and he kind of looked at me, and asked where I'm from. I told him, quite truthfully, that I'm living in Tours, and that got me in for free (it's only supposed to be free for EU students, ages 18-25, but I *do* study in Tours, so I wasn't *technically* lying). ;P
The staircase up to the Tower was intense. It took ages to climb, and was very narrow and twisting. There were little arrow-slit style windows, so I took pictures as I went up. About halfway up the tower they let you out onto a little walkway just under the roof. I assume that's to help with traffic flow, since it'd be hard to pass by people, and also to give people a break from the climb. When you get up to the top, it lets out in two directions, and you can go all the way around. I took a billion pictures of gargoyles and carvings and other Gothic amazingness. The wind was really strong; a couple times I thought the whole tower was going to blow away, and me with it! My hair was a mess, but whatever; the view was fantastic! Apparently on a clear day you can see all the way to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Unfortunately it's been really wet and rainy so it was cloudy, but it still seemed like you could see forever. Again, though, the passages were incredibly narrow. After a while I went back down; I looked at my phone when I headed down and figured out that it took over 5 minutes of straight descending to finally get to the bottom.
After the climb I was surprisingly drained and my legs were shaking; I checked out that the Crypt tour was at 11am, and went outside to eat a candy bar I had in my purse, then hung out in the nave until the guy showed up to take us on the tour. We went outside, since the Crypt is accessed from there, and down beneath the cathedral. Apparently the Chartres cathedral crypt is one of the biggest in the world, and runs a complete circuit beneath the church. We got to see the oldest part of it, where the walls and the foundations of the church date back to the Merovingian and Carolingian kings. There's also a well at one point whose foundations go back to the Celts; it's believed that the cathedral stands on the site of an ancient Druidic holy site that used to be the capital of the whole region and was mentioned in the diaries of Julius Cesar. Then we went into the Roman part of the crypt, which is covered with ancient frescoes. They tried to uncover and restore the frescoes, without much success, so there's not a lot to look at. We also got to see the reliquary containing the second existing portion of the Veil of the Virgin Mary; apparently it was split up into six pieces in the Middle Ages and divided between various lords. The two pieces in the cathedral are the only two to be recovered. They've been scientifically tested and positively identified as being from Palestine and about 2000 years old, so who knows? There's also a statue of the Virgin that is one of the few to show the transition between the Celtic religion and Christianity; it shows her seated, with her eyes closed and Jesus on her lap. A similar seated goddess with children and closed eyes was venerated by the Celts, which is one reason why the Virgin was used to smooth the introduction of early Christianity. Apparently the Cathedral in Chartres was one of the very first to ever be dedicated to Mary.
After the tour, the guide told us a little about the labyrinth (which I already knew about) and about "St. Jacques' Nail," which is apparently a big nail driven into the floor of the cathedral which corresponds to a pane of white glass in a nearby window. At noon on the summer solstice, the light comes through the glass and shines directly on the nail's head. Our guide said that scientifically it was probably a way to keep their calendars consistent. But there's also apparently some kind of festival that still goes on in the South that has to do with people carrying around torches for Saint Jacques; I didn't really understand the specifics, but he said that the nail might have something to do with that, too.
After I visited the Crypt, I decided to go find that Singer store and get myself some needles and thread. I felt dumb when I realised that I'd just passed right be it before, but I managed to get what I needed. I was also really tempted by some pretty yarn, but I managed to restrain myself. Then I went to find somewhere to eat lunch, and found a Moroccan restaurant, "Le Table au Sud". They had a meal (entrée + main dish) for 13 Euro, which was why I went in, but then the lady told me that it wasn't available on Saturdays. *sigh* I went ahead and just ordered what I had chosen off of the regular menu. My entrée was a "Délice Chevre," which was goat cheese wrapped in some pastry thing with sauces to eat with it. It was really good, although kind of difficult to eat. Then she brought out my Couscous Maison; and kept bringing out food until my eyes about fell out of my head in surprise. There was a heaping dish of couscous, a big bowl of vegetables in soup, another dish of chicken and sausage, and a little dish of chickpeas, white raisins, and some sort of spicy red sauce. They were all table dishes; you serve yourself from them. Even if I hadn't had an entrée I don't think I wouldve been able to get halfway through all the food... it was incredible. I ate until I felt like I would explode, then finally told the waitress I was done. I tottered back to my hotel room to lie down for a bit, hoping it would digest away some.
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