Bonjour! We waken today to sunshine and moderate temperatures. It rained a little over night but the day looks to be mild and liveable. We pack and make multiple trips down the mountainous stairway with our luggage and then are treated to some tea accompanied by toasted croissants and brioche prepared by our hostess Madame Auvary.
Following our long goodbyes, we begin the trudge back to the underground car park with our luggage in tow. Two blocks along, here comes Madame Aubrey, chasing after us. A confused conversation in French (ours not good) we come to understand that she believes we may have made off with her cell phone as she can’t find it. She had been showing us pictures and thinks one of us may have picked it up by mistake. We show her our phones and eventually she seems assured that it must still be in her kitchen where we were all sipping our tea and scarfing our croissants. A quick adieu and we are off again.
We navigate out from the car park and head north and west toward the city of Chartres. We eventually arrive and again find an underground car park, this one adjacent to the famous Cathedral, which is our goal this morning. This massive structure was originally built in the 8th century. A major fire in 1076 destroyed half of the cathedral, bringing down one of its two spires. A 30 year process of rebuilding (amazingly short time considering the size of the structure and the technology available) it was rebuilt but the newer spire in a Gothic manner, hence the two different looking spires as noted in the picture attached.
Although the interior is stunning with over 975 stained glass windows soaring above us, the real piece de resistance (at least in the minds of the church) is a silk veil reputed to belong to the Virgin Mary. This treasure was saved from the fire and can be traced to this church from at least the 5th century. According to the information given in the church, the silk threads can be scientifically dated to the 1st century. Evidently the church believes in some science!
After our church meanderings, we step across the square and find a Rick Steves recommended cafe - Le Serpentine. Here we lunch on omelettes, croquet monsieur/madame sandwiches, frites and some passable Bordeaux wine. By 2:00 we are back in the rolling beast with Howie at the wheel and Lee in the navigator’s seat heading again northwest towards our destination city of Dinan in Breton, our home for the next two days.
This is a long drive of nearly 4 hours, accompanied by sunshine, and sometimes heavy rain showers. We arrive safely and by 6:00 have located our next inn, the La Villa Cote Cour Hotel. No parking lot again, but Deb and the landlady secure a parking spot on the street out front of the hotel as Howie and Mark circle the block, eventually, to pull in. Once more a charming old home, this one converted to a hotel. Howie and Lee are assigned a ground floor room with a patio and outside hot tub/jacuzzi. Mark and Deb get to climb again to the third floor for a sumptuous suite overlooking the town, although with an ensuite tub, not shower.
After a short unpack, we convene in Deb and Marks aerie for some rose wine we had picked up along the way and a bottle of champagne donated by the landlady. Also Mark sliced up the first of the two salami sausages we had scored a few nights earlier at the Antidotes bar in Orleans. We talked over the day and discussed the rest of the trip.
We soon head out for a dinner, finding a restaurant within a few blocks. Plat du Jour on offer was baked Dourade (white fish) over vegetables, an accompanying salad (quite good) and a dreadful “bland manger ala biscuit” for dessert. Not our best french meal. We troupe back to our rooms and fall into bed again exhausted, around 10:00.
