This is an update of the amazing trip I took to Europe last summer. Slowly but surely I’m posting about every day I spent on that excellent continent. To read earlier updates, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. And here. And here and here and here and here and here and here.
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While in France I got into the habit of jotting down thoughts and recaps in my notebook at the end (or the middle if I happened to be somewhere write-worthy) of each day. [Sadly I got out of this habit once in Spain and England after school mode was turned off, but I think I can pretty well remember what I did in those places—not to worry.]
This is what I wrote about Chartres:
June 7, 2011—Tuesday
It’s 10:30 p.m. and I don’t feel very tired but I should be.
We had a busy day today, starting with a trip to Chartres (about an hour by train from Paris) to see the cathedral. The Chartres cathedral was one of the first works I studied in my very first art history class way back in Senior year of high school, and even though I’ve been to France before, I’ve never been to Chartres. I was excited.
(Not that you could tell by looking at my mug.)
The cathedral itself was neat, but more than anything I liked hopping on the city bus and seeing all the sweet little neighborhoods. That was definitely the highlight of my day. I kept thinking, “I would love to have a house here to visit part of the year.” It was quaint and quiet, like Mayberry but much older and much sweeter.
I stopped for a hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) and couldn’t get over how cute the cup and saucer were with words written on them. Pretty sure the waitress thought I was nuts. But I bet if she came to Canada she would take photos of something weird like dirt, so to each her own.
I also gave in and bought a dadgum umbrella for €8, which was annoying (annoying that I didn’t just bring my own from home) but I came to love that cheap kiddie umbrella:
(Unfortunately the umbrella didn’t make it back to Canada with me, but I will never regret the time we spent together. R.I.P., umbie.)
(Also: ordered a bowl of French french onion soup and solved the mystery—they just call it onion soup there.)
After exploring Chartres until my feet couldn’t take it any longer, I got back on the train to Paris and had a nice hour-long rest thereon.
I found myself snapping photos for my sister that I thought she would appreciate since she couldn’t be there with me and I missed her terribly. I knew she would’ve loved this huge clock (and pretty much everything about this setup) I discovered at a random home decor store in a train station of all places. Look at how awesome that clock is!
Back in Paris I wandered around for several more hours, enjoying the feeling of not ever being lost because I had a map and a transit pass. I rode the bus to scope out good areas and hopped off when I saw a Lush™ (where I bought a conditioner bar that smelled my hotel room up something glorious). There was a Metro station right outside the Lush™ and I was proud of how confident I felt navigating back to the hotel.
I hope I never pass up trying new things. I never want to miss out on an excellent experience on account of fear. I may meet many hurdles in my life but I don’t ever want fear to be one of them.
—cpsf
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