Paris, je t'aime! Part 15: Let's Bring This Thing Home

In Part 14 of the France blog posts, we were awoken in Mont Saint-Michel by crazy Brother Larry, who just can't be trusted with the abbey bells anymore.

"If you could at all avoid having your car

explode on this part of the freeway,

we would oh so appreciate it.

Merci!"

Within an hour or so after leaving Le Mans, we found ourselves in Chartres, which was not only on the way back to Paris but also had a lovely cathedral we were interested in visiting.  I'd read there were parking lots near the cathedral itself, so we dropped the address for it into Google maps and let it go to town.  That's not a problem in countries like the USA where all of the roads are wide and mostly passable, but as we got into old town Chartres, we found out the Google lady had vastly overestimated our interest in squeezing even a small rental car down medieval, cobblestone drives.

Um, this feels like a fairly tight fit.

This is a two-way road,

with an old lady in it as well.

She paid us no heed whatsoever.

"I think we just drove across a canal?"

Eventually, we found ourselves some sort of parking lot, and we took advantage of the opportunity to ditch the car and finish the journey to the cathedral on foot.

"Holy father / who art in Heaven / 

WiFi be thy name."

In France, they pronounce WiFi - 

WeeFee - which never stopped making us laugh.

Chris would be like, "where's my WeeFee,"

and I'd be like, "HERE I AM!"

Lots of wine, folks.

French towns really are freaking cute

What do I spy with my little eye?

I see a cathedral!

So sad this place was closed.

Like other sites I mentioned before, you emerge from an alleyway, and BAM, there it is, an extremely famous cathedral.  We were so close that I couldn't get a full shot of the front with the big camera, but Chris did pretty well with the panoramic option on his phone:

The cathedral in Chartres is another example of Gothic church architecture (check out the buttresses on that one!), but the church we see today is just the latest of three or four that once stood on this spot.  In the late 1100s, the prior church burned to the ground, including its holy relic - Mary's tunic, the dress she wore during the birth of Christ.  Miraculously, the tunic was found by someone sifting through the rubble, and this was taken as a sign that a new church should be built and STAT.  Thy will was done, and in only about 30 years, the current cathedral was finished.  This was a MUCH shorter time frame than other churches built around this time, so one of Chartres' claims to fame is that it is a really cohesive structure, architecturally. The other famous piece of the cathedral are the renowned rose windows, which are pretty darn impressive:

Shots of the rose windows around the church

A few more beauty shots from inside and out:

It wouldn't be this blog if we

didn't have at least 10 shots of the

interior of a church ceiling

Chris is standing at the beginning of the

labyrinth set into the church floor.

Pilgrims would use this to meditate and

guide their prayer, as they walked along

toward the main altar.

After taking a quick potty break and waving at a nearby fur-kid, it was time to head back into Paris.

PUPPY!

It took us just over an hour to get back into Paris, which put us there right around 4pm on a Monday afternoon.  Awesome.  It wasn't as bad as driving on the 405, but it did take nerves of steel to make progress while dodging bicyclists, motor bikes, scooters, and a random assortment of other transportation options.  I'm so glad Chris drove this part.

A pretty representative sample of what Paris rush hour looks like

Aided by the information on TripAdvisor (that site can be a godsend sometimes), we found the entrance to the parking garage at the train station and bid adieu to the Captur.

Seriously - this type of thing is where the site excels

Bye, little car!

We made our way back to the George Astotel, where we reunited with our large suitcase and officially checked into our room there.  I don't have shots of the room itself, which was more than sufficient for our needs (every room had its own little fridge with complimentary soda, juice, and Evian water!), but Chris did get a shot of my ecstasy at discovering our final hotel had a shower with a FULL door (all of the others had half-doors).

Did it keep the bathroom any drier?

No, dear reader, it did not.

We spent some time repacking, for we would leave early the next day, and before too long, it was time to head to our final dinner in France, at Le Pantruche, just about a mile from the George.  Dinner was delicious - three courses for a set price - and the place was adorable.  I didn't take too many shots, but I did grab this one:

Salut!

On the way back to the George, we stopped at a nearby bar Chris had his eye on since seeing it on a map near the hotel.  The Dirty Dick was a tiki bar (and it was hopping, even on a Monday night!), and while we were too tuckered for drinks, he still wanted his picture outside, even though the bouncer was looking at us like we were maniacs.

Seems like an appropriate name for a bar

in the former red light district, non?

The next morning, the alarm went off earlier than any day so far, and we showered and changed into our airplane clothes (glorified pjs, really - hey, we had a long flight ahead of us), making it downstairs with our bags by 5am (it was so early our hotel's desk clerk was asleep on the lobby couch - we understood).  We took a taxi to the airport (one organized through our hotel for a set rate that seemed to increase each time someone else advised us of it - whatever - we were ready to get there) and sailed through check-in and security without any issues.  We chilled at our gate - I napped while Chris found another Paul bakery-cafe and grabbed some pastries.

I did not nap as effectively as this fellow traveler,

and for that, I am truly jealous.

Our flight boarded right on time, and it was time to say goodbye to Paris!

Bonjour, sunrise!

We made it home without issue - a three hour layover in Amsterdam and then a long flight to LAX - and were standing in our kitchen with the kiddo jumping around us by late afternoon.  We had a wonderful time, and we can't wait to go back!

Later!

Amy