We left Brussels and headed back to France. Our new destination is Chartres, a town known for its grand cathedral! When we arrived at our bed and breakfast I was really excited, my room was in the old water tower that the household would use in the dry season to water their crops. When we arrived it was 36C so I was also glad to see that they had a pool.

The next day we went into town to have a tour of the cathedral. This particular cathedral is famous for its stained glass windows because they lasted through the Wars of Religion, the French Revolution and both World Wars, it is also bigger than the Notre Dome cathedral in Paris. Another interesting thing I learned is the purpose for flying buttresses or the little bridges on many cathedrals in Europe. They are used because the roofs are made of five foot thick stone which when on the cathedral, pushes the walls outward so the flying buttresses push the walls back in place.

It is a massive and beautiful building especially the way it is situated on a hill in the middle of the city. The interior is being restored to its original paint scheme and colour and while it is still not done, the parts that are finished are very impressive. When we got back to the room we swam in the gorgeous pool.

Next we are headed to Saumur where we are staying in a large house, and this is our relaxing week. On the day we were driving here it was the busiest day of traffic all year in France because everybody leaves the big cities and heads to the beach. Because of that our GPS was rerouting us onto backroads which ended up taking an hour longer that expected but still an hour and a half shorter than staying to the highways.

We also stopped to take pictures of Ryan in a sunflower field, adding to our collection of “Ryan in fields” photos. Our place in Saumur is very beautiful and I am looking forward to having a relaxing week here!