It had been eighteen-years since I stepped across the scholars’ threshold on the right side of the Western portal entrance into the beautiful Chartres Cathedral, of Chartres, France.
When I arrived from walking up the hill from the train-station and reached the plaza in front of the great cathedral I was met with quite a sight! There was a Medieval Renaissance Faire going strong throughout the town of Chartres and in front of the cathedral!
It was like having each foot in two different worlds! One was in the past, when this great cathedral was being built and the other was in the present moment of shorts, back packs and cell phones mixing with crusaders, knights, queens, kings, peasants and musical ensembles...
Everywhere you looked… there was something or someone from centuries ago and the present moment. Like a crusader enjoying a baguette sandwich and canned drink…
Or women of old walking through the streets ahead of us…
Or a merchant and women folk, as well as modern tourists, discovering the beauty of the cathedral interior for the very first time…
Or a merchant and women folk, as well as modern tourists, discovering the beauty of the cathedral interior for the very first time…
And there were gargoyles, or as I recently learned that the correct name for these creatures are… chimeras. For a gargoyle has a waterspout and a chimera does not…
All of these festivities added to the mystique and symbology of this incredible creation of stone and light and shadow. Chartres Cathedral.
On pilgrimage as a group leader with [Veriditas](https://www.veriditas.org/).