a HUGE serendipity moment

There we were driving along the French equivalent of the 401 (the A-11) on our way “home” from Switzerland. We had set out from Lausanne on Sunday October 8th at around 6:15 in the morning, and it was now around lunchtime. Ron had decided to exit at the next rest stop along the highway for us to have a little lunch break. But somehow we were in the wrong lane at the wrong time, with a big truck between us and the exit, so we missed it. I checked our maps and suggested that since we seemed to be ahead of schedule, perhaps we might want to stop in Chartres, where we could have a bite to eat and also see the cathedral. I had read about this cathedral (and about the magnificent Mont-Saint-Michel) in my study of Gothic literature - we had seen Mont-Saint-Michel several times, but had never taken the trip to Chartres. So moments afterwards we found ourselves off the highway and travelling awe-struck in the direction of this MASSIVE cathedral DOMINATING not only the city but the entire landscape. This is a partial side-view of the cathedral as we walked down the street towards it. What we are looking at are some of Chartres' “flying buttresses”.