Kathy, Charlie, Kelly, Craig and I will be meeting for a GTG in Chartres. We were thinking of taking the Malcolm Miller tours. Does anyone know the cost of a tour? Also, I thought the Labyrinth was a hedge maze in the garden, but Kathy tells me it's in the catheral itself. What is it exactly? And lastly, how do you pronounce Chartres. Are the last three letters silent as is Charts or do you pronounce it Chartrays?

Ginger

Hi Ginger,

We just had guests recently that raved about Malcolm Miller's tour.

The labyrinth is in the cathedral itself and I won't tell you anymore so as not to spoil the suprise, such as it is...

And Chartres is pronounced Shartre, phonetically speaking, more or less - and it is a fantastic city to visit.

-Kevin

Kevin,

Sorry to be so dense but is the "tres" pronounced or is it silent? As in Sharts? Or do you pronouce the it like "Shartrez"?

Ginger

Would anyone else like to join us for our day in Chartres? (We will figure out how to pronounce it before we get there!!) Our family will be driving about two hours from Honfleur, and Ginger and Craig will drive about the same from Chenonceaux.

We are tentatively planning to meet up on Wednesday, July 5, potentially mid-morning. We'll have lunch and visit the cathedral... check out the town.

We could probably get together earlier in the week (Monday or Tuesday) if any other Slow Travelers wanted to join us and that timing worked better...

Kathy

Kathy,

I just heard from Brenda that the only day you can walk the Labyrinth is on a Friday. Would July 7th work??

Ginger

MM's tour was wonderful -- just be prepared for a rather unusual tour, since he takes just one very narrow aspect of the cathedral each time. So you could easily take both his noon and his 2:45 tours and be doubly enthralled. The cost is 10€.

GO THERE OFTEN;
RIGHT ON FOR THE LABERYNTH;
THE CITY IS PRONOUNCE SHARTRA WITH A LONG VOWEL SOUND ON THE a,BUT IT VERY HARD ON PAPER TO TELL YOU;
try to go to La Manigua; is a salsa restaraunt very lively in the evening:the food is great at reasonable prices. it is located at rue Pie in the walking section to your right of the cathedral facing at it.
Enjoy it its a lovely town about 2 hrs from where I live.

Definitely do take the Malcolm Miller tour -- he is phenomenal. I have heard that he is not in very good health (in fact, he was recovering from a bout of something when we were there 4 years ago), and that there may be some question about how long he can continue. I also read some reports recently that some people found him rather brusque -- I will say that he has no patience with rudeness so I couldn't help wondering if the people who were complaining had done something to annoy him. When we were there, he was very distressed about groups of students who were making noise and not properly respectful of the atmosphere. (Not our group; elsewhere in the cathedral.)

I asked him after the tour how he could do this every day with so much love and enthusiasm, and he said for him the cathedral was like a beautiful piece of music that he would never tire of.

Ginger, we could do Friday too, if that's the only day you can walk the labyrinth.

I had a chance to experience a labyrinth at Rancho La Puerta (a health spa in Mexico) last year. I just checked, and it is a full-size replica of the labyrinth at Chartres. I attended a group session to learn about using a labyrinth for meditation, and then we all walked the labyrinth. It took most people about 20 minutes, I think. A few moved much more slowly and thoughtfully. Once I knew more about how the labyrinth might be used for personal reflection, I wished I was there alone or with maybe just one or two other people, as I found myself distracted by the others, even though everyone was totally silent. I intended to go back on my own later in the week, but I never did. (This particular labyrinth was in a pretty isolated spot in the woods...)

So I wonder if anyone here has walked the labyrinth at Chartres and can tell us something about the experience. If you can only walk it one day a week, is it really crowded? Are other people watching those who are walking? (It seems like that would really take away from the meditative experience.)

Kathy

Chartres was the reason for me going to France last year...and I spent a whole day in Chartres, and walked the labyrinth TWICE! Do not miss the experience, please...it is amazing.
Here's my trip report page about that day...enjoy!
I'll post more later, as it is past my bedtime!
Ginger, check your PM's...I sent you a huge list of references to the cathedral, as well as Malcolm's e-mail address.

"This building is like a book. Its architecture is the binding, its text is in the glass and sculpture." ~ Malcolm Miller, on the cathedral at Chartres
Brenda

I've done the MM tour of Chartres and it is really great. He wears a little microphone and the clients wear earphones so it is like he is standing next to you. I emailed him first to make sure he would be there on the day we were. He was disgusted with tourists roaming into the church wearing shorts and sometimes carrying ice cream to eat. There are several books by him for sale in the cathedral book store. By the way, don't hang around after his tour is you want to eat in the town, which is wonderful to walk around, but hot foot it out of there as every place closes, as we discovered on our trip. We did find a wine bar open across the way from the cathedral and had a good lunch but it wasn't where we wanted to eat. There was a cool little place on the stream with a water wheel that was no longer serving lunch when we arrived. Go back and look around and shop in the gift shop after lunch. This is if you do the morning tour. The labyrinth is covered with chairs when it isn't Friday. MM didn't think much of it giving me the impression that he thought it was nonsense. Many labyrinths were removed from churches-it was a huge practice at one time-as I believe the church thought it wasn't the thing to do. It is magnificent cathedral and a lovely village.

Okay, I just read the Chartres page from Brenda's trip report. WOW... I had forgotten that from my first reading. (But then there was just so much to remember from that great report!!)

So. Sounds like we definitely need to plan on going on Friday, July 7th to walk the labyrinth. Anyone else want to join us?

(And Lpennin104, thanks for the tip about making sure we get a good lunch-- which of course, is an important part of any daytrip!)

Kathy

Brenda,

Thanks so much for your help. Wish you could come with us.

Ginger

Brenda,

I just read your trip report page again and I can't tell you how moved I was. It made me cry, I had forgotten how special a place it was for you. Thank you for writing about your heart. I will think of you when we are there.

Ginger

Merci beaucoup, mes amis de vos mots aimables...
I would lovelovelove to be there with you. This place was the reason I went to France in the first place...in the hope that I would be able to walk the labyrinth at Chartres cathedral. It was a dream of mine for many years, and it was so amazing to actually BE there.

The labyrinth is inlaid into the great huge floor area of the cathedral. During the week, no one is allowed to walk the labyrinth, but on Fridays, the seats are moved aside and there it is...the ages-old stones, inlaid in a familiar pattern, some stones worn smooth, some with pieces missing, some pitted and deteriorating...a lot like people in this life, I think.

It is more enormous than I imagined, and the process of walking it is whatever is comfortable for you. Sit in the seats along the front row, and watch others and how they walk. Some are very meditative and slow, others walk briskly as if to hurry up and get it over with...interesting to see how each person reacts and what effect the experience has on each person.

There is also a tour of the crypt, underneath the cathedral, dating from the 4th century AD. We were blessed to be allowed a second tour, and were also allowed to go directly to the chapel area and stay there for about 45 minutes unattended. My son was in awe of that privilege, as was I...that whole experience changed my life, in ways that I'm still discovering.

You can join the crypt tour by walking along the right side of the cathedral, towards the back, where there is a little shop with a sign outside of it that indicates that you are to wait there for the tour. We waited there for the guide, and we paid him directly, I think. He was an older gentleman, with Donald Trump hair, who was very familiar with the grand lady, and was so interesting and so knowledgeable. I'd take that tour again in a heartbeat. He had a palpable love for his cathedral and it showed in his manner and in his patience with our many questions.

If you have questions, please ask...I'm happy to share my experience with you. I also posted my 2 photo albums of Chartres cathedral on the

Here's the timeline of the cathedral's existence.
Here's a good history of the cathedral.
Here's the St. Lubin window...with the famous Chartres blue glass! You can click on the zoom feature on this page and get a really spectacular close-up of this window. The window I love the most is the Blue Virgin.
Here is a site that has some good photos of the labyrinth as well as one of the Blue Virgin and other stunning stained glass windows in the cathedral.

Here, you can actually watch the labyrinth pattern evolve! Scroll down the page and click on the butterfly near the bottom of the page...you can see the labyrinth unfold! Try not to look ahead of the little green ball, but stay in touch with it, and you will find your mind slowing down, your concentration increasing and a calm that will settle over you, if you allow it.

Here is a good bit of information about walking the labyrinth...Jill has some interesting thoughts about this process!

Google Chartres cathedral, Labyrinth Chartres cathedral and Chartres Cathedral crypt...you'll find lots of other great sites.

"The experience of praying the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral is something pilgrims are likely to remember the rest of their lives. In using this ancient spiritual tool, one walks on beautiful stone as pilgrims have done for centuries; there is a sense of having entered holy history. As one moves on this circular pattern, different views of the cathedral’s architecture and stained glass come and go, inspiring, comforting, challenging, reassuring. There is a pervading sense of safety one feels within the magnificent sacred space of the dark cathedral. The sounds and sights of a parish at work and prayer add their flavor to the encounter as well."
~ Rev. Jill K H Geoffrion
Brenda

Yes, you must visit Chartres on Friday, and you must be there more or less all day, or at least for a few morning hours, and a few afternoon hours, at least until five pm or so. Only that way will you be able to see all the different windows properly lighted from behind (outside). Do look closely at the page http://www.labyrinthos.net/chartpics.htm posted by BGE. The roundels in glass near the bottom of the page come from the http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-id...ity=0&evl=full-image Zodiac window just next to the Blue Virgin window. Be sure to find your astrological sign in that window, and see what the activity is for your sign. We were tickled to death to see that Loie's Pisces activity was sitting warming one's feet at the fire (and BGE's page shows those roundels!) as she always has cold feet.

Brenda (and BuckyE), thanks for all the great information. I'm now looking forward to this day even more.

Brenda, we are looking for content for the France website! (Have you been following this discussion?You have so much information about Chartres and all those great links. It probably wouldn't require much more to turn these into some great travel notes!

Kathy

I have a partially finished report in my computer on the cathedral at Chartres and the labyrinth inside! One of these days, I'll turn it into a great and glorious bit for Slowtrav...one of these days...

Please do some reading before you go to Chartres, so you know what you are going to see. I have a DVD that I bought in the wonderful gift shop in the cathedral. It is a long, detailed piece about the meaning and the indentification of the ka-zillions of sculptures and statues that are in every corner of the exterior. As well, there is information and great images of the interior of the cathedral. It was a few EEE's to buy, but it is a perfect memory for me, because it shows the details so clearly, and that is not possible to see, and so close-up, when you visit the cathedral.

I'll post some more information here for you, after I get through the rest of this week...my darling daughter is home with that nasty-nasty 'flu that I had a few days ago, so I'm doing all the jobs here for the next few days!!!!!

"Some things are transportable; others, like Chartres Cathedral, you have to go and see. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world; I go there whenever I have the chance." ~ David Rockefeller
Brenda

Dave, Pedmar, Riana, Dude and anyone else are you available on this day?? Friday, July 7th. Last call before I make reservations.

Ginger

Brenda - one of your e-mails included a link to your day at the Chartres cathedral. I read that then over the past 3 days have read your entire 38 page journal of your trip to Italy and France. I'm so impressed with your planning and everything you did on your own - and your expressive writing. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
I went to Italy in 2004 with a group of girls and we spent a couple of days in Florence and Venice plus a week in Tuscany. I've just returned from a trip with the same group spending a week in a villa in Provence and three nights in Paris.
Let's hope we both can go again although it always takes me awhile to forget the ong flights
Pink

awwwwwwwww, Pink,
...thank you so much! I am always happy to hear from people when they tell me they actually read ALL of my report! I was so unsure when I was writing it, because it seemed too emotional, too wordy and chitty-chatty, too long...BUT, that's how it was for me, how I experienced it, so I left it alone, posted it, thinking that I'd likely hear some less-than-savory comments, and voila! People actually like it! How totally cool is that? So, you made my week...thanks!

The next time I go to France, I want to stay in Chartres for a few days, just to experience that lovely town. It is so calm and peaceful in spite of the crowds at the cathedral. I think that there is a natural calmness and respectful quiet among the people visiting, so it never had that noisy, rush-rush of the busy tourist attractions elsewhere. There's more a feeling of pilgrimage.

One of the women I met, who lives in Chartres, told me some very interesting things about the history of the cathedral. We were sitting on the steps outside of the main doors, and I commented to her that it amazed me that this stunning cathedral was built so many hundreds of years ago, and with no external help, like cranes, bulldozers, computers and the like. This structure was built by human sweat equity, and it has lasted so many centuries. Today, we cannot build something that lasts 100 years, and we have all the technology in the Univers at our disposal!

The woman, who was listening to me venting about this, began to tell me a story. She said that in the days when the cathedral was being built, life expectancy of the average man was about 35 - 40 years. So, a man who was an alter-builder, would begin the alter for the cathedral, carving stones day and night, until he passed away. Then his son would take over where he left off, carving day and night. The son also might pass on, before the task was completed.

Her point was that a family would live their whole lifetime in service to the building of the cathedral alter, and because of all of the families of craftsmen involved, the whole community's goal was to build the cathedral, for however many generations it took to complete the project.

She said that today, we do not have that commonality of purpose to bind us together as a community, and so we have people moving here and there, living in one town after another and with no real sense of belonging to any particular place.

The construction of the spires is also awe-inspiring. When you climb the 300+ steps to the top of the cathedral (and you will climb them! It's definitely worth it!!!)you will see that the spires are made of perfectly sized stones set, one upon another, with NO MORTAR holding them together! They stay in place by sheer weight of each other, and only by the design of the structure acting as the glue.

OK, the lesson is ended..your bill will be in the mail tomorrow! Later this week, I'll add some other cathedral trivia that I've learned about this past year...that is, if it's not too tedious and boring?

"No man but feels more of a man in the world if he have but a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep; and that is a very handsome property." ~ Charles Dudley Warner
Brenda

Chartres - wonderful town and cathedral.

Brenda - lovely reports, thank you.

Malcolm Miller. First met the man July 17th, 1970 when my first wife and I latched on to his tour. Then he was much more active and the tours covered the entire "program" of Chartres. Free then, with him passing the hat at the end. We were short haired hippies with hardly two nickels to rub together and we ran off without making a contribution. Met him again 3 years later when he toured North American University's lecturing. Mentioned my bug out and he said he remembered me.

Heard that he was still active in 2003 and purchased a private tour. (That sure got us even tarif wise.) The man is the reason I have a keen interest in medieval church architecture. A giant of a fellow. Fare thee well Mr Miller.

Chartres cathedral was the templet for the rest of the Gothic buildings that followed. It is the first on the so called 2nd generation gothic churches. Its design was based on the teachings of the School (Univ.) of Chartres, which was the foremost school advocating a mathematical formula for the relationship between heights and lengths. Prior to Chartres there was not a concerted effort to balance the relationships. The evident visual and structural harmony that is the result of strict mathematical adherence to relationships (3:2:3 or 3:1:3 for example) is the hallmark of 2nd and 3rd generation gothic. So stunning was the effect that the 1st generation masterpiece of Notre Dame de Paris was partially disasembled in the 1220's and rebuilt in the style of the 2nd generation. Later at Reims and Amiens the builders learned to build with signicantly less stone in the walls and columns, thus opening the space even more to the glorious light.

I babble on.........

quote:

Originally posted by suncoast:
[...] Also, I thought the Labyrinth was a hedge maze in the garden, but Kathy tells me it's in the catheral itself.

Ginger,
There's a grass labyrinth in the "yard" behind the museum next to the cathedral. I'll try to scan in a photo from my visit and post it later.

Ginger, did you look at the photos of the Chartres labyrinth that I posted here? It is a huge labyrinth of interlocking stones set in the floor of the cathedral...I'll post another photo for you. Check this out!

Here's another great piece on labyrinths, their purpose, the way to walk them...there can be much more to walking a labyrinth than one foot ahead of another, til you are done. This article details some of those things.

Robert Ferre is a well-known and well-respected labyrinth builder and you can see some of his creations by going to his website. This is the site where I found this quote and the above page explaining the whys and wherefores of labyrinths.

"One of the most noticable effects of walking the labyrinth is stress reduction. We can see the difference in our physical bodies. Stress kills, and the reduction of stress heals. The same is true with balance. Our priorities get far out of kilter sometimes. When that happens, we experience dis-ease. The labyrinth brings us back to a state of equilibrium. It can contribute to bodily healing and well-being. Being physical, the labyrinth is anchored in time and space, just as we are." ~ Robert Ferre
Brenda

Yes Brenda,

I looked at everything you sent me by PM but I must have missed the actual photo's of Labyrinth in the church itself. It is stunning. However, I find it odd that there are astrological signs in a Christian church. Wouldn't they consider that sacrilegious? (I am so much more aware of symbolizism now since I've read THE BOOK. You know The DaVinci Code. ) Thank you also for the article on what a Labyrinth is and how to prepare yourself to visit. Craig & I are both going to read it.

Ginger

I just found out the difference between a labyrinth & a maze. "A maze has many paths and dead ends. In a maze one loses oneself, whereas in a labyrinth one finds oneself. The labyrinth brings order to chaos." Pretty friggin cool.

Ginger

Ginger,
I love that passage! Thank you for sharing it!
I saw astrological symbols in many cathedrals...San Miniato, in the floor of the main vestibule, in Chartres Cathedral, of course...it's interesting how hundreds of years ago when those cathedrals were built, the inclusion of zodiac symbols was considered perfectly acceptable. Today, people get all weirded out over little things like astrological symbols, for example. Maybe, just maybe, we aren't as advanced and as forward thinking as we like to think we are!

Ooops, sorry, Ginger...I wasn't being clear when I asked if you'd seen the links I posted...sorry for that! I was referring to the links that I posted on the previous page...there are a few cool ones there, and I think they are different from the ones that I sent to you. This link is interesting...shows Chartres cathedral, as well as an explanation of the use of astrological symbols in cathedrals in the early ages.
This link shows the astrological signs sculpted into the facade of the Royal Portal on the west side of the cathedral. Look for this line lower on the page..."See these additional large overall images of the left doorway, one in color, and one in black and white." You can click on the word 'color' and 'black and white' and you get a close-up of the astrological sculptures.

I bought bookmarks for my family and friends in the gift shop near the back of the cathedral, and they are images of each sculpted sign..Libra for me, Aquarius for my daughter, Taurus for my son. The DVD that I have also shows the individual signs.

When you are in the cathedral, please try walking the labyrinth at least once, and maybe twice. I walked it a second time later in the day and it was such a powerful experience. I had more focus the second time, because the first time, I was so excited about actually being there and walking this labyrinth, after so many years of dreaming about it...I don't think I was really able to be 'in' the experience until my second walk. It was close to the end of the day, around 4:30 or so, when I decided to walk again. There were no people in the labyrinth when I began the second walk, and that was such an amazing thing to be walking this great structure alone. To actually have it all to myself, if only for a few minutes...then others came in, one by one, and soon it was full, again.

You've probably gathered by now that I'm really intrigued with Chartres cathedral and the labyrinth inside...I cannot tell you why it has been a fascination for me, but it has. I don't want to add information here if it's an overload or boring, so let me know if you want me to continue sharing!

“A physician without a knowledge of Astrology has no right to call himself a physician.” ~ Hippocrates
Brenda

quote:

Originally posted by suncoast:
Dave, Pedmar, Riana, Dude and anyone else are you available on this day?? Friday, July 7th. Last call before I make reservations.

Ginger

would love to share some thoughts on Chartres with you but I work in France...ja ja ja as the French do of course. Do not know if can get Friday July 7 off at this point. If i do i might just stop by this thread again.
Thanks so much for the invitation.

quote:

it amazed me that this stunning cathedral was built so many hundreds of years ago, and with no external help, like cranes, bulldozers, computers and the like. This structure was built by human sweat equity, and it has lasted so many centuries. Today, we cannot build something that lasts 100 years, and we have all the technology in the Univers at our disposal!

Well, a whole lot of them fell down, had roofs collapse, burned down, and so on. More self-destructed than remain. We CAN build things that would last forever, we just don't want to. After all, architectural styles change every ten years.

Brenda, you might be interested in a recent novel called Labyrinth.

Chartres figures in it peripherally, although it is not the labyrinth of the title. I read it a couple of months ago before our trip to the Languedoc because it was mostly set around Carcassonne, and was largely based on events having to do with the Cathars. I had not known anything about the Cathars before we went to the Languedoc and became very fascinated by their story.

It got kind of mixed reviews on Amazon, but I thought it was a lot better written and researched than the Da Vinci Code, to which it is inevitably compared.

And, by the way, I loved your writeup on Chartres, too. We were not there on a Friday, but the cathedral was an amazing experience even without the labyrinth. Did the organ play when you were there? Hearing Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor fill that beautiful space with such powerful music was overwhelming.

- Roz

In reply to Bucky's statement that a whole lot of (Gothic) Cathedrals fell down...in all my years of studying Architectual History, I have never heard anyone make that statement, as it is a non sequitur. Gothic cathedrals are one of the most outstanding and enduring creations of mankind...

Although I suppose that one could surmise that since the pyramids are now deteriorating, and the first ones collapsed, that they also are not substantive. One of the problems with the internet is the substance of information one reads is many times not correct. However, one tends to believe what one reads.

How does one get in touch with Malcolm Miller for his tour of Chartres? Is he simply there on Fridays at noon? I will be spending a week with my husband and inlaws in Paris in October and have been reading this thread with great interest. Thanks Brenda, for all of the great links.

I wanted to plan just one day out of the city and this seems like an ideal way to spend it. It would be on our last full day. A perfect way to reflect on the trip and so many other things.

Hello again,

I found contact info for Mr. Miller in one of my guidebooks, thanks!

Yes, Casole,

I emailed him a couple of days ago and he replied promptly that you just need to show up at either noon or 2:45 p.m. No reservations are necessary.

Ginger

Thanks Ginger,

I feel like I've just discovered my new reason for going to Paris! Brenda, your links have been so fascinating. Walking the labyrinth seems akin to yoga practice but more of a self-guided meditation. What led to your interest in the Cathedral? Did you have an interest in the Cathedral first and find out about the labyrinth or vice versa?

I hope everyone enjoys their day together in Chartres! I won't be there until October.

Casole

Oops, I forgot to say only on Fridays though.

Ginger

quote:

Okay, I just read the Chartres page from Brenda's trip report. WOW... I had forgotten that from my first reading. (But then there was just so much to remember from that great report!!)

Me too! And I've read the report twice. I think it ranks with Kaydee's one about the walk across England which I have talked about to so many people. But what a wonderful time I've had this evening rereading about Chartres. My goodness I'm getting a lot out of this site

Leslie, thanks for your positive comments about my C2C trip report... I am truly honored to be compared to Brenda's epistle!! Stay tuned... I am finishing up a report about our 100 mile walk in the Swiss Alps last summer.

This sure has been a great thread getting Ginger and I ready for our day at Chartres (and hopefully pedmar too). Wish you all could be there with us-- but we will report back!

Kathy

Awwww, man! I wanna come with you!!!!
Chartres is a mindbending, soul-nurturing experience...and I want to share that with all of you.
Drat!
Double-drat!
There's this little thing called money...that's the problem. I am saving for my trip this fall, and there's no way in this green earth I can manage 2 in one year. (...and one more heart-broken graemlin, for good measure...scroll down to see it at the bottom of this post.)

Still, I'm dreaming of just showing up at the cathedral, and introduce myself to your group, and have you go, "HEY! Brenda! How'd you get here? We're intoxicatingly, deliriously happy that you came!"

Roz, thanks so much! I hadn't seen this book, yet. I'll order it from my trusty interlibrary loan system. Thank you so much for your kind words about my day in Chartres. It was a long-held dream to actually go to the cathedral and walk that labyrinth...I was actually incredulous that I was able to be there. Awesome would perfectly describe how it was...I was in some state of awe, I tell ya! No organ playing...that would have been the icing on an already mile-high cake! I'd also like to be there for Sunday services...wouldn't that be something?

casole, you're most welcome! I have bookmarked a few dozen of them, so I'll continue to share, if that's ok?

quote:

What led to your interest in the Cathedral? Did you have an interest in the Cathedral first and find out about the labyrinth or vice versa?

It was flow, baby! You know...one of those destined things. I think in another life I must have been a carpenter or stonemason who worked on the great lady to build her, to help to make her last through the ages.

I've been intrigued with labyrinths for years, and was telling my son about it one day...he said, "Mum, there's a great labyrinth in Chartres, just outside of Paris, you know."

I didn't know.
I soon learned, though.

Never expecting to be blessed enough to actually get to that cathedral to walk that labyrinth, I began searching for other, closer, more easily-accesible labyrinths. I found several in Canada, some within driving distance of my home.
I was actually planning to travel to one in Edmonton, a couple of hours' drive from here.

Then, I found myself brave enough to actually say out loud that I was "going to Italy next year." In the planning process, my son said he'd like to join me there, and we were over-the-moon with our plans and our shared excitement.

During one phone call, I was crabbing about the l-o-n-g flight from here to Florence, and the l-o-n-g flight home again. Just off the cuff, I said, "It wouldn't be so long if we stopped in Paris or London..."

And so, the dye was cast, as they say. My kid agreed that it would be a good place to start or end our trip, and I wanted a week, at least, and he agreed. THEN, it dawned on me that we were going to be close to Chartres, and so I asked my son if it would be possible to actually go to the cathedral and walk the labyrinth!

So began a long and heartfelt search for all of the information that I could find about that labyrinth and the cathedral that houses her. It still seems like a dream that I actually was there, that I was privileged to walk the ages-old stone pathway in the cathedral floor. The only thing that would be better than that would be to go there again. This time, I want to stay a few days in Chartres, so I can experience the cathedral and the labyrinth for a longer time than just a few hours.

Leslie, you make me blush! Being compared to the inimitable, incredibly talented Kathy and her ability to write such stunning travelogues...you just made my day! Try this labyrinth stereogram. Let your eyes relax, while you stare at the center of the image...not quite crossing them but totally relaxing them. You'll see a labyrinth image rise from the page, so clear that you can actually let your eyes wander through the pathway!

“The labyrinth awaits our discovery, for it will guide us through the troubles of our lives to the grand, mysterious patterns that shape the web of Creation. It will lead us toward the Source and eventually guide us home.” ~Lauren Artress, author of 'Walking a Sacred Path'
Brenda

quote:

Try this labyrinth stereogram.

Oh my goodness!!!!

That is so cool! I can't wait to put that up on my Smartboard in the morning! Slow Travel scores another point in Australian primary school education.
H'mmm, now I have to justify the educational value. How about a quick talk on famous world mazes and the meanings of the two words, maze and labyrinth?

Got it. Went to Google and got a site that discusses: "labyrinth, a collection of puzzles, riddles, and paradoxes designed to stimulate lateral thinking." Well, Slow Travel is now promoting stimulating lateral thinking.

Thanks for the labyrinth stereogram, Brenda. Thas was neat!

I can't see it. Maybe I'm just not a labyrinth kinda girl. I'll try again later.

Ginger

Going back to the question about how to pronounce Chartres, it is SHAR-truh. With the French R of course, and with the stress on the first syllable. The final S is silent.

I think it might be too far for us to go. I have been twice and my husband and I walked the one outside together before we got married. aww, sweet moment.

I am reading "Labyrinth" right now as the Languedoc Cather topic is very interesting to me. If I can convince DH to drive on up there I will let you know.

Thanks for thinking of me,

The Boston Globe this morning had an article about a meeting of the Labyrinth Guild of New England now taking place in this area. Here is the link, although the Globe doesn't leave its stories freely accessible for more than a day or two.

I thought this quote from a minister at the conference was interesting:

quote:

You begin to lose yourself," she said. ``You lose your way. One minute, you're closer to the center -- `Oh, I'm almost there.' And the next minute, you're way out there."

People often mar life with invidious comparisons to others -- their salaries, their cars -- but ``you can't do that on the labyrinth because everybody is on their own path, together. . . . It makes you aware of your relationships to others. I don't know most of these people that are here, but the labyrinth draws us together."

Just a note of thanks to you, Brenda, for your description of your day at Chartres. I have yet to read the rest of your story, but for now, all I can say is that it was the only thing I've ever read that made me wish I was Catholic. Maybe you aren't, but I guess I make that assumption, given your longstanding fantasies about this place, its meanings to you.

I have this experience often on Slow Trav, where many seem to take so much from the myriad churches, frescoes, and historical religious art. As one who feels spiritual but not religious, from prior trips, I have 'felt the high feeling' in these places, but since I have no personal relationship to the biblical stories which inspire the magnificent art, I end up feeling like I'm missing out on something when yet another madonna and jesus just doesn't do it for me.

I have something else, of course, which moves me: joy in beauty, whatever its source. But your passion offered me a window to a different experience, and I wanted to appreciate it to you. When I visit Chartres this November--largely because of your infectuous passion--I will think of you with gratitude.

Karen

Karen,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful words...
I'm delighted that what I wrote about my experience in Chartres cathedral that day was meaningful for you!

I was raised Protestant, so although I have been entranced for years with the cathedral in Chartres, it isn't because of my faith...the day we spent there was definitely a spiritual passage for me, as you may be able to tell, after reading about it in my report.

A long time ago, a very wise person told me that "Religion is for those who are afraid of hell. Sprituality is for those who have already been there, and survived." I hope these words are not offensive to anyone, they are not meant that way. Rather, they are, for me, a very clear description of how I feel about this topic.

My day in Chartres, in the Grand Lady herself, was most definitely a very spiritual day for me. I was not expecting anything like that, I only wanted to see the cathedral and walk the labyrinth and then go back to my nice little Paris apartment in the 18th Arr.

However, the Universe had other plans for me, as I discovered when I was walking that centuries-old labyrinth. I experienced such a clarity of purpose when I heard the words, "You need to GET it that your job is to reach out and touch all of the people that I put in your path."

I've been walking my path in my life, always seeing others as the ones who know, the ones who understand and the ones who have all of the information and advice. This moment in the labyrinth opened my eyes and my heart, so I could begin to comprehend that I'm also sometimes the one who knows and the one who understands and the one who has a bit of information and advice for others. This was a pretty stunning moment for me, and it has taken a while for me to absorb that lesson.

When you visit Chartres this November, Karen, please walk that labyrinth with a totally open mind and heart. It is so amazing what can unfold for us, if only we are open to it. Take you time, don't let anyone rush you. There is lots of space for people to move past you, if they are in a hurry to get out of the pathway. I often wondered if the folks that I saw hurrying and scurrying to get through the process were a little uncomfortable with what might have been happening for them as they walked. Who knows? On the other hand, maybe they were simply hungry or in need of a smoke or a potty-break!

"In our modern world we have lost touch with our origins, our roots, even our true identity. The labyrinth is the bridge that connects us to these things, to a long-forgotten part of ourselves. That's why it touches people very deeply, often in a way they can't verbalize, as the context itself is ancient." ~ Robert Ferre
Here's the page where I found this quote...good stuff here!
Brenda

quote:

"Religion is for those who are afraid of hell. Sprituality is for those who have already been there, and survived."

Hear, hear! I used to repeat almost the exact same thing when I taught addicts and alcoholics what Higher Power meant.

Well, Brenda, I just spent the better part of yesterday and this morning reading your trip report--the whole enchilada, or baguette, as the case may be--and I again want to thank you, this time for the opening of my heart which came while reading it.

Since I found Slowtrav, I've been toying with making a trip report from a six month travelogue I wrote on a solo journey I took through Europe in 2000 after being told I had 2-3 years to live, max--speaking of being to hell and back again and surviving. But I've dallied because it's quite personal, and like yours, is as much about me as about the places and people I experienced.

From the trip reports I'd seen, I'd gotten the idea that most don't do raw personal stuff. And most aren't as long as yours, which mine definitely is. I, too, was robbed. I, too, carried health issues with me. I, too, had tearful times over my aloneness on the journey, along with many funny moments as well. Your report inspired me to revisit the idea of doing my own report of that trip.

And, I'm currently planning another trip for almost three months starting 23 Aug, which will bring me back to France and Italy: Provence for a week, lakes region of Italy for nearly two weeks, Venice for 10 nights, Florence for 11 nights, return to a wonderful couple's B&B in Tuscany for 4 nights, the Italian Riveria for a week, Piemonte for a too short 3 nights at Diana's, a week in a stone cottage at a B&B in the Yonne of Burgundy, and 16 nights in an apartment on rue Cler in Paris before returning home.

This trip, akin to your worries about ill loved ones at home, I will be leaving behind two 13 year old bearded collies (my 'kids') with much worry and guilt, as one has bad hips, and I dread the possibility of her getting markedly worse while I'm gone. Your courage inspires me to go without fear, to take it easy on myself.

My visit to Chartres will open me to whatever Essence (my version of spirit) is ready for me to learn.

Karen

P.S. I knew where your money and bus card were the minute you wrote of them missing!

Nothing to do with Chartres or the Labyrinth, but responding to Karen's post (and Brenda's) which relate to our journey through life.

Karen, I'm so glad you read and enjoyed Brenda's trip report. I really felt like I was right there with her, and like you, I enjoyed reading about how she felt... all the emotions... not just the what and where of the trip.

It sounds like you have quite a story to tell as well, and I would definitely be interested in reading it!

For your upcoming trip, maybe you should think about a blog that you could post to along the way instead of an after-the-fact trip report. That way people could follow along with your trip in semi-real-time. Just a thought.

I kept a blog during our long trip. It started off as just a way to keep family and friends involved in our trip. I started off keeping a handwritten journal too, but once I filled my first book, I just wrote on my laptop. I wrote every day during the "travel" parts of our trip and posted "essays" during the time we lived in France. Now it has become a permanent record of our trip for our family and others. I have taken two major segments of the trip (our two walking trips) and turned them into Slow Travel trip reports.

While many people do enjoy reading about where we went, what we saw, what we did, what we ate, many people have commented that they were most interested in knowing about how we felt along the way, how we responded to the experiences, and the interactions (highs and lows) of our family life. People I know-- especially former co-workers-- were suprised how honest I was about many things.

I am getting ready to start another blog about our upcoming seven week trip.

Those of us who travel slowly have such a multi-facted experience... especially what we learn about ourselves when we find ourselves in unfamiliar and unexpected situations.

And I definitely have a different expectation of our day at Chartres that I did when Ginger originally suggested this as our meeting place.

Kathy

Hey, Kathy.

What a terrific note! Thanks so much for your words of support. Indeed, I do plan to set up a blog--I've updated my Mac software, and am going to use iDisc to store photos while on the trip, and for hosting the blog.

On the 2000 trip, blogsphere was new to non-existent; my Travelogue took the form of emails home to a long list of friends/family. Internet access was much harder then, and I'm looking forward to WiFi in several places I'll be. I also got sloppy at certain times and didn't write. This time, I'll be diligent!

As for doing up my last trip, I'm having a hard time deciding how to divide it: I was in about 7 countries across 6 months. One long trip report would be overwhelming. Seems like I could make several...dunno. Ideas would be helpful.

I'll look forward to reading your reports and blog. I started one once, then got sidetracked over to your photos and never returned to the writing! I loved having a photo to put with you and your family.

Karen