The Chunnel Leads to France (Day 26)

The EuroStar

At approximately 4 a.m. this morning, we headed out the door to catch the bus to St. Pancras International Train Station, and at 5:30 we boarded our train, which took us through the Chunnel (UNDER the English Channel), and when I woke up at the end of the train ride we were pulling into PARIS, FRANCE!!
Don't get too excited though, because we were only in Paris less than an hour before we boarded a coach and headed into the country. (OK, you should actually probably still be excited because France is awesome!)
Our first stop was in Chartes, France, where we disembarked the coach and headed straight through town to the Cathedral that is the dominant feature of the small town. The town really hasn't grown..well at all... since medieval times, so we got a feel for how prominent the Cathedral was back when it was built. We had a guided tour by Malcolm Miller (who has been around for a VERY long time studying this place), and it was really neat. The Chartes cathedral has the largest collection of stained glass from the 12th-13th centuries and it is so cool. I loved hearing about the stories that are embedded in the art of the windows.

The Chartes Cathedral

A glimpse of the beautiful restoration work being done

Chartes Cathedral

Here's that Stained Glass I love

After Chartes, our next stop was Fontainebleau...aka one of the Royal Palaces. We went through the Grand Apartments and barely scratched the surface of all there was to see and learn. The European Studies student in my was freaking out a LOT, and the college student in me could not even imagine living some place so big (I mean really, I have like half of a dorm room to myself and these royal families had SO MUCH SPACE). We also walked back to the courtyard and watched some giant carp swim in the mini-lake back there, and walked a little ways through the giant park that is also part of the palace.

Inside Fontainebleau

View from the Main Entrance to Fontainebleau

Half of the exterior of Fontainebleau

Kindal and I should be models promoting Fontainebleau

We ended the day back in Paris, at our lovely hotel right next to the Bastille. For dinner we scavenged some baguettes and cheese and it was absolutely wonderful. Plus we watched American cartoons in French, which was much better than watching the News (which was the only channel in English).

Food