Highlights today included visiting the chateau at Chenonceau and the cathedral at Chartres on the way home to St. Germain. We took the audio tour at Chenonceau which helped us ignore the crowds and gave us the back story one never gets just walking through. Several of the queens and mistresses who called this home built a lovely place here.

Our drive to Chartres took us across the "breadbasket" of France with mile after mile of golden wheat fields. When one looks at a map of France it seems populated with thousands of towns. In reality it is vast farmlands interspersed with tiny hamlets. Almost like driving across the Midwest, but much more charming.

The cathedral at Chartres is being restored and a thousand years of grime is being removed inside and out. If they don't run out of money, it will be spectacular when it is done. For now, it is showing all of its age and is a bit dank and dark inside. Nevertheless, one must stand in awe of the history and power of this monument. We got there one day after 10,000 pilgrims had walked there from Paris to celebrate Pentacost.