Chartres Cathedral

Up early for a tour of Chartres Cathedral. The giant rose window was covered in scaffolding (I don’t think we’ve been to a single site this whole trip that wasn’t under construction), but the rest of the cathedral was to die for. Our tour guide was this crazy scholar who taught us how to read the stained glass windows and sculptures in the cathedral, which made it that much better of course—each window tells a story; it’s a riddle trying to figure it all out, which is why it’s so much fun.

Reading the sculpture on the facade.

This window tells the story of Adam and Eve:

And this one is my favorite--Noah's Ark:

This is said to be the veil that was worn by the Virgin Mary herself during childbirth--found only her in Chartres Cathedral: