Chartres

So glad we went back to Chartres on September 22nd.

The Cathedral was quieter today.  Maybe because the lights were low, or maybe because the Labyrinth was cleared for walking.

We really loved walking this ancient path.

And the windows were more picturesque today, so I can share them with you.

I read something about the perfect alchemy of these windows.  There is metallic silver in the blue glass to make it so vivid.  Apparently there is a color known as Chartres Blue.  Then to get the bright yellow color, there are gold flecks in the glass.

This is the famous choir screen that wraps all the way around the altar.  Each carved vignette is a story in the life of Jesus and Mary.

I found my own story...

I'm sewing, Tony is thinking and Carter wants to go to the park.  Some things just don't change.

Teeny tiny doors.

A kick ass altar.

And seriously, check out the arms of these chairs!

This place did seem a little magic.  I think that's what I like about faith, you have to believe in some magic.

The astrological clock.  There's also a stained glass window with all the signs in it.

The sundial angel.

The tower facade, west side.

The South facade.

The Tony Facade.

And the Andersons.  A facade you can love. 😉

Carnac

Wow!

Carnac, the site of 4 KM of megalithes, all in alignment.  Think Stomehenge without the roof.  Or Carhenge without the cars.

Carnac. A name Tony cannot utter without thinking of Johnny Carson.

Raise your hand if you got that.

There are Dolmans, a type of tomb.

There are Tumulus, essentially a Cairn.  A mountain of stone, that was a burial tomb.

Christians came along and put a church up there centuries, actually , millenia later. St Michael who apparently chased out pagans....

Great view though!

And what a magical walk!

Who dis?  Looking for fairies and Grails.   Maybe she is too.

And look who we found!

Friends from Angle Lake! Robyn and Jim Todd like rocks too!

Here we are in this ancient place!

A stone from the beginning of time, shaped like a heart. Awww.

Megalithic love from a Benevolent Universe.

Tony and I went on to find another Cairn.  Here's what it looks  like from the top.

The other side.

No. Way.

We found an excellent spongy mushroom though.

Then got back in the car and drove to our marvelous bed and breakfasr in the rain.

It felt like home.

Merlin

This morning we decided to find some magic, fairies and tombs here in the Celtic corner of France; Brittany, Bretagne, Breizh.

There was rain and thunder to add to the day. 

We found Merlin's tomb after a short walk through a dense mysterious forest called the Brocéliande.  

The tomb was originally a Neolithic stone dolman, surrounded by a stone circle.  The circle is still there, but robbers broke up the dolman looking for Merlin's treasure.  Dumbheads.

We continued down the path looking for fairies.  We found a snail/ PNW slug instead.

I told Tony, ...I'd rather see a fairy than a snail...  yes I would... if I could....

And off we went into Paul Simon land...

(Leave a comment if you got that reference.)

Next we found the Fountain of Youth - JUST in time.

So youth, or giardia? Probably worth it.

We continued walking, wondering how old the rock walls were that these trees had grown up on and through.

 We came to a Cairn cropping.

Who meditates this hard?  This pic is about half of them.

We wanted to find Merlin's Bench, which is part of the megalithic heritage of this region ( next post).   But what we found was the Golden Tree in the forest called The Valley of No Return.

Note: this is Google worthy.

In 1990 there was a forest fire here that wiped out most of the trees.  The community was devastated and volunteered, planting 500,000 trees.  An artist covered this standing, burned tree with gold leaf as a memorial.  Today, 30 years later, we walked through a forest.

Pretty cool.

We didn't get to Merlin's Chair because it was a rocky climb and it was just too wet.

We did see a pond where fairies admire themselves though.  It's called the Fairy Mirror.

We got to drive through some gorgeous country never really sure where we were going.

We met a cow, and his best friend, the Sanglier, Pumbaa.

L'Illet, Brittany

This place was such a great find for us.

After Chartres, we didn't know where we were going to stay in Brittany.  Tony found this place online and we are here Sep 19-22.

The gardens are wonderful.   So many familiar plants.

There is a row of hydrangeas along the fence line.  And isn't this charming?

The hosts are very friendly.  They speak a little English and we speak a little French so it is working out.  There are two young children and Tony did his magic disappearing ring trick and wowed the room.

Here is our sitting area.

Here is our chambre.

Here is our petit déjeuner. 

And here are the curiosities!

The name of this  little town means The Eyelet, and I haven't figured that out yet.

We visited les Mégalithes yesterday and walked through a fairy forest.  We even met our neighbors from Angle Lake.

More on that later!