Originally published on September 26, 2025
First, a few photos from last night’s Illumination Train ride 🚂✨. Chartres lights up dozens of its buildings, bridges, and of course the cathedral. The 45-minute tour rolled us through the streets with narration in French and English, ending right back at the cathedral just in time for the full show again. The cathedral truly steals the spotlight—was it better than Amiens? Hard to say… both were stunning.
This morning we walked down to St. Peter’s Church. Built mainly in the 12th–13th centuries, it is a fine example of Gothic architecture, especially with its flying buttresses, which look like stone wings holding the church up. From there we wandered to the river, once the industrial heart of medieval Chartres. Butchers, tanners, and parchment makers worked here centuries ago, filling the streets with smells that thankfully have long since vanished. Today, the half-timbered houses and riverside paths make it quite picturesque, with plenty of ongoing restoration.
Back at Notre-Dame de Chartres, Friday is special: pilgrims walk the labyrinth set into the floor. Dating from around 1200, it symbolized the spiritual journey to Jerusalem for those who couldn’t make the actual pilgrimage. Watching people quietly trace its winding path gave the cathedral yet another layer of meaning.
The rest of the day was about tying up loose ends—cleaning out the rental car, figuring out how on earth to return it at the station (let’s just call that an adventure 🤯), and tackling our final load of laundry. By the way, we put 2,175 miles on that little car! 🚗 With those chores complete, we’re officially ready to hop the train to Paris tomorrow for the grand finale of this trip. 🇫🇷✨
