More from Day 2
It's a good idea to take a picture of the day's itinerary.....Just in case you forget when lunch is........
Chartres City Walk.....We spent the morning learning about medieval architecture and exploring the charming streets of Chartres.
Our day began with a medieval engineering lesson from Julie. Demonstrating the structural capabilities of Gothic architecture, we lined up as human arches. This action helped us understand how the weight of the building was distributed down the building freeing up the walls for the stain glass.\Julie also demonstrated how medieval builders measured the angles and points of the buildings.....with a piece of rope. Who needs modern tools? By manipulating the angle of the knots, she illustrated how builders measured the complicated architecture of the cathedral. Our group was amazed! We then made our way down to the old part of Chartres for a loop back to the cathedral. Chartres is almost like two towns. The lower more industrial sections lines a river. We made our way to the gate ruins and then started back up the hill. The cathedral looming over us on the hill. Chartres is beautiful!
Scenes from beautiful Chartres
On to the land of a thousand Chateaus........
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