FRANCE 2000: CHARTRES AND VERSAILLES

 December 24, 2000

It was Christmas Eve AND Sunday and we were not sure what would be open, but we began our day by driving to Chartres to see its massive Gothic cathedral, built mostly between 1193 and 1250 and with additions as recent as the 17th century. Considered to be one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979.

The story is told that during World War II, the city itself was heavily bombed in August 1944. An order was given to destroy the cathedral as it was thought to be in use by the Germans as an observation post. An American army officer named Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr., challenged the order, volunteering to go behind enemy lines to investigate. He entered the cathedral and after searching it from the crypt to the bell tower, declared it free of Germans by ringing the bell and waving an American flag from the tower. The cathedral was spared. Tragically, Colonel Griffith was killed in action later on that day a few miles north of the city. Posthumous medals and awards from both the US and France are not enough to recognize his bravery and foresight.  (Photo from Wikipedia)

Unlike many of the other cathedrals of Europe, the stained glass windows also survived the war. When the war started in 1939, master glass artisans dismantled hundreds of the precious stained glass windows, and with the help of local volunteers, packaged the windows in crates and stored them in the crypt. Just before German invaders reached the area, the French people hauled them across the country to be stored in an underground quarry. In August 1944, bombs blew out the cathedral's temporary windows.

The cathedral is massive--430 feet long and 151 feet wide with a nave height of 121 feet. It covers 117,060 square feet. The two towers are 344 and 371 feet.  

There are 176 stained-glass windows, the most complete group anywhere of window from the Middle Ages. Left: The infancy and life of Jesus. Right: The famous "Blue Madonna" window. The Blue Madonna uses a cobalt blue that is very unusual in the windows from the 12th century.

Again, I wish I had more photos. We need to go back.

From Chartes we drove to Le Pecq, where our daughter had spent the last six months, to meet her host family. I can't believe we didn't take ANY pictures!  My strongest memory is of the grandfather, a rather gruff elderly man, telling us that they were very grateful for the invading American forces in 1944 because France would have been lost without them. We had felt the scorn of the French for American tourists a few times on the trip, and his words were kind and comforting. I also remember that my daughter's love for cooking was stoked by her host mom, who taught her how to cook several French dishes.

We also attended the LDS ward in Versailles where our daughter had been going to church.  It turned out that one of the members of the bishopric was from Bob's ward when he was growing up! Small world. The service was in French, so Rachael sat on one end of our group and translated while a missionary sat on the other end and translated. It was fun to experience that with her.

After church, we headed to the Palace of Versailles, built by King Louis XIV between 1661 and 1715. In 1682, King Louis moved his government to Versailles, essentially making it the capital of France, which lasted through the next two kings until 1789. The palace and its grounds are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Looking towards the palace.

I think this is the view looking away from the palace.

Our admission tickets cost  46 French francs, which I think at the time was about $7.00.

First stop: the WC, which cost about 35 cents?

Nothing about the palace was humble, including Louis XIV himself. He was everywhere.

The palace has 2,300 rooms, 5,000 pieces of furniture, 6,000 paintings, and 2,000 sculptures. That's a lot of dusting, and you can bet that the royals didn't do any of it.

This palace is Baroque on steroids. This is what we dubbed "the rainbow rooms," a series of salons in a rainbow of colors.

Every inch  is covered with something spectacular.

It is said that Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI, gave birth in front of large audiences in this room. I take it she was not very inhibited.

This painting by French artist Henry LeGrand is of George Washington at the Siege of Yorktown. A copy of it hangs in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

The iconic Hall of Mirrors is 240 feet long and 34 feet wide with a 40-foot-tall ceiling. There are 17  large windows on one side that look out on the gardens, and across from them are 17 equally large mirrors that reflect the gardens. Mirror glass was a luxury in the 17th century, and to have so much in one room was testament to the wealth and power of the monarchy. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were married here in 1770. Many important political events were held here over the years, including the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which ended World War I. President Charles De Gaulle hosted a reception of US President John F. Kennedy and his wife here.

Most of us were loving it, but one son in particular was not impressed.

Okay then, let's try the gardens. They cover almost 2,000 acres or over three square miles.

Strangely, I don't have pictures of the gardens. It looks like we were more interested in the hardscape.

Trying to mimic the sculptural pose, perhaps?

Well, it was Christmas Eve and we were ready for a big dinner. We were planning to splurge on something extra nice.

Bob recalls that we found just one restaurant that was open, but it was full of cigarette smoke and one of our kids just couldn't handle that, so we continued our search. Unfortunately, we couldn't another open restaurant. What? People wanted to spend time with their own families on Christmas Eve? ?Unheard of! Where is your spirit of capitalism? 

We finally discovered an open Chinese take-out restaurant. We were quite hungry and ordered several dishes to take back to our hotel. We were shocked to see them package up COLD dishes. We didn't have a microwave in our room. It was a little bit of a disaster. (But hey, kids, we'll laugh about it someday, right? RIGHT?)

Finally, Bob and I really wanted to experience Midnight Mass in one of the cathedrals, so we went to the Versailles Cathedral. I think the service began at 11:30 PM.

Photo from Wikipedia

It was our first experience with a full-blown mass, complete with a swinging incense burner (called a thurible), which was almost more than my smell-sensitive family could deal with. I remember that the organist was quite fantastic, but there was a key on the organ that kept sticking, which totally ruined his virtuosity. We sat near the back and slipped out when communion began.

READING

I have not yet read this book, but I was so intrigued by the story of how the cathedral was spared during World War II that I went online looking for a book that would tell me more about   it. This one looks terrific! I've ordered a used copy. I'll be back with a review after I've read it.