Cathedral at Chartres and Paris Pantheon

Cathedral at Chartres

So picking up where I left off, Tuesday night we had a surprise concert planned for us! I had no idea where it was or what music we would be listening to, but I sort of liked going into it blind. We got to where the concert was going to be held and it looked like a giant Greek temple! Turns out it was a church, and inside was one of the most beautiful interiors I have ever seen! Despite all these distractions, I paid my full attention to the 8 piece orchestra that played Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. For two of the songs as well we were lucky enough to hear an opera singer too! And for the latter half of the concert a fabulous violinist played solo after amazing solo. It was definitely an awesome experience and I am glad that we had this surprise! So Wednesday morning we boarded a bus to travel to the town of Chartres to see the Cathedral there. What an amazing cathedral too! Very close to Notre Dame in grandeur. We were also even luckier to have a guided tour by the world's expert on this cathedral (giving tours for 55 years) Malcolm Miller, an elderly, British, extremely knowledgeable man who gave possibly one of the best tours I've ever had in my life. Going into it my teacher had said he was a very cranky old man, but he knew his stuff. So I was like okay, I will go along with whatever the guy has to say and hopefully he isn't too mean. They were definitely wrong! He was very witty and not cranky at all! I guess we got him on a good day. Such a great experience wandering around the Cathedral and the town of Chartres (pronounced 'shart'...). We were there for over 5 hours, but the time flew by and I was definitely sad to leave this beautiful cathedral. I learned so much not only about the cathedral, but about the history of France as well during our tour here. I would definitely want to come back here some day. This morning we were touring another 'church' of sorts, the Pantheon. Not to be confused with the famous Pantheon in Rome (we will be visiting there at the end of November!). The Pantheon is a Neoclassical style church commissioned by King Louis XV. So above ground we have a beautiful Greek cross (like a + sign) plan and below is the famous Mausoleum. During the revolution this church was de-consecrated and afterwards named the Pantheon, meaning a temple for gods. Many famous people are buried here; Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Marie Curie, and many, many others. I will have to say that the Mausoleum part wasn't even half as creepy as the Catacombs were! This afternoon our first real 'assignment' is due...so I will be finishing up touches on that as well as packing for London and Dublin! We leave Saturday morning for London, where I will be for 5 days. Then we have an independent travel period where I will be traveling to Dublin! I am very excited, but we are sending our luggage ahead of time to Florence, so this means I have to pack a backpack and purse for 2 weeks! Wish me luck on this! Aur Revoir!