5: Paris to Chartres Cathedral, Chambord, and Tours

Today is day 6. We left early today because we knew we would have a long drive to Tours. We have to keep in mind the driving restrictions for bus drivers in the European Union. They cannot drive more than a certain amount of hours in one day, and they are required to stop for half an hour after several hours as well, so we ate lunch at a truck stop! It was pretty fancy by American standards.

Our first stop today was Chartres Cathedral. We weren’t too disappointed by not being able to get into Notre Dame because we knew we’d be able to get inside of Chartres Cathedral. It is much more impressive on the interior. Most of the students climbed to the top of the tallest bell tower. It is almost 300 steps to get to the highest point we could reach. The impressive parts of the cathedral are the interior height and the stained glass which has been preserved. The cathedral roof was the highest in the western world when it was built. Unfortunately, we found the interior undergoing restoration to part of the supporting columns and ceiling, but it was still pretty impressive.

Following our stop at Chartres, we drove to Chateau de Chambord for lunch. Students could take a quick look around and find something to eat, a crepe or croque-monsieur. The castle at Chambord is one of the prettier castles in the Loire Valley with over 300 fireplaces. After our stops during the day, we were unable to make our next destination, Chenonceau, so we went on to Tours, leaving Chenonceau for the next day. We were in Tours early enough to have some free time before dinner at 7:00.

In front of L'Arc de Triomphe on our first afternoon in Paris. 

The Louvre on our first night in Paris. It is difficult to get to the front to get a better view.

Maribel boxing out in front of the Mona Lisa! That Art History class just got real!

First stop on the morning of day 2 in Paris, photo op.