Retreating into History

 The election happened, and that's all I will say about it.

Blanche's window

We drove to Chartres Cathedral for a Blanche sighting. We'd been there once before, several decades ago, but back then we didn't know who Blanche was, nor that as queen she'd funded much of the building of the cathedral, nor that there was a rose window she commissioned herself. 

Our Lady window

But we did remember how spectacular Chartres was, and it still is. The stained-glass windows are nearly all original, from the 13th or 14th century, paid for by various noble families and guilds. I was despondent to find that Blanche's window was covered for renovation, but I present to you a version off the Internet. It features many Old Testament figures, with their pagan opposites beneath them. Very unusual. The rest of the windows were just mind-blowingly beautiful.

We lunched, then drove to Chateau de Maintenon, the home of Mme de Maintenon. She began life as the daughter of a man in debtor's prison, married a much older poet, then rose to become the tutor of Louis XIV's illegitimate children. 

Louis had a type

The Sun King fell in love with her, and after she was widowed, he secretly married her. Some of the chateau had been redone in the 19th century; the rest was from Louis' time, including an entire wing created to ensure that the king could get from his bedroom to the chapel without enduring the painful reality of outdoor weather. There were many, many portraits of Madame in every room; in all of them she looked calm and beatific. And the gardens were beautiful, even in November.

We started toward Paris. It was rush hour. Two hours later we were still stuck in traffic in our car. An hour after that we were stuck in traffic in an Uber. 

View from our balcony (note
the construction crane!)

But eventually we arrived at our lovely hotel with its view of Notre Dame (still under construction after the fire), and then for a brief time we forgot all the bad things as we dined on divine French food in a nearby bistro.