Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

Like many, i was sooo up for walking the labyrinth..
Like many more, i was very dissapointed to find ugly chairs strewn all over it… :(

Breathtaking Gothic architecture..

Sooo many statues it’s like watching a slideshow.. actually it’s nothing like a slideshow.. but you know..

I have to say i was very disappointed to discover that the French had removed and melted down the brass plaque that used to stand at the centrepoint of the labryinth.. when the army needed metal.. typical..

If i had the time to be poetic, i would say..
“It’s a place for meditation, just walking around, just sitting, just looking at those beautiful things”.. :)

You must go.

I went to Chartres specifically to walk the labyrinth, one of the earliest and most famous examples in the world. I was warned that the labyrinth was often covered by chairs and that was indeed the case when we arrived.

There is a lovely restaurant serving authentic fare right next to the cathedral. Even though the staff are dressed in period costumes, there will be plenty of locals and excellent, modestly priced lunches.

I think this is my favorite place in the world!

I walked the Labyrinth in Chartres in 2004. The stone felt cool and smooth on my bare feet. Colored light echoed off the walls, my retna, my heart, a gift from the stained glass windows. I walked to the center on the path and floated back out on that same path. Later, much later I hopscotched too—when no one else was walking. I’ve been to Chartres a few times now, but my favorite was that Labyrinth walk (and hopscotch) in 2004.

As shrnmc knows, my main interest in visiting Chartres was to see and walk the famous labyrinth inlaid in the floor of the cathedral. It’s the oldest complete Medieval labyrinth still in existence. Most of the time there are chairs set up on top of it, but a few times during the week they clear out the chairs so people can actually walk it. My spouse & I made a day trip from Paris, toured the cathedral, walked around the town, and returned in the early evening to walk it. Even with the people leaving from mass walking through (a pair of siblings stopped to have an argument, right in front of me), it was very moving to be walking the labyrinth in a place where people have been worshipping for hundreds of years.

Related reading: “Walking a Sacred Path” by Lauren Artress; and “Crossing to Avalon” by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

I hope you get there someday, shrnmc!

one of the most beautiful gothic churches. the setting itself is amazing…a very small town with winding medieval roads. it has a much better sense of history than notre dame.