A Great End To A Generally Great Trip

(Carol reads the headline, shakes her head "no."  Hmmm, I wonder if she's thinking about the first morning in Dubrovnik when I crashed the ATV off the path and it badly bruised her ribs, causing her pain for the whole trip.  Nah, that can't be why she's shaking her head "no.")

There are a bunch of "Hmmm" gifs.  I

went with the best one (in my book).

Anyhow, we capped it off with one of my favorite places to visit -- Sainte-Chapelle, the small royal Gothic chapel in Paris.

First, we had breakfast with Jim and Ellen from the Bordeaux trip.  The previous night, we had gotten to our room, and it showed I could airdrop to Jim.  I may be moderately tech unsavvy, but I knew enough to know that meant he was right near by.  So I texted him -- and they were three hotel rooms away.  So we set up breakfast.  

That lucky couple was staying in Paris for six more days.  We need to get back to Paris for a longer stay.

Anyhow, once I booked the flights with the 24 hour layover in Paris, and the free hotel room for a night, I went to the Sainte-Chapelle website and booked tickets for Monday morning (Labor Day in the US) at 9am when it opens.

We had visited Sainte-Chapelle in 2013 and it ranks number one on my list of most amazing stained glass I've ever seen.  My rankings:

1. Sainte-Chapelle
2. Sagrada Familia
3. Chartres Cathedral
4. Leon Cathedral

Carol's got the same four on her list, but she put Chartres first.  Carol wins most disagreement (I know -- that's your shocked face), but in this case, I'm right and Sainte-Chapelle is numero uno.

Our friend Joey helps out with

his example of a shocked face.

Because we wouldn't have a lot of time after visiting Saint-Chapelle, I surprisingly had a great idea.  Get a car and driver, pick us/our luggage up at the hotel, drive us to Saint-Chapelle, then wait nearby to take us/our luggage directly to the airport.

Construction on Saint-Chapelle started around 1239 and was consecrated in late April 1248.  It was commissioned by King Louis IX ("Louie, Louie" to his friends -- the Kingsman even did a song about him, which is why they are called the "Kingsman.")

According to Wikipedia, "Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture."  (I had no clue, but as my readers no doubt know, Rayonnant is considered the high point of French Gothic and appeared in the 13th century.)  Rayonnant means "radiant" in French.  It also started rose window craze in cathedrals, which is a wonderful thing.

Anyhow, Sainte-Chapelle housed the king's collection of relics, including Christ's Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the true cross. 

For some royal trivia, King Louis IX was later captured and ransomed in the Seventh Crusade.

I was once again blown away by the extensive collection of 13th century stained glass.

After wandering around in wonderment for a while, we What's App'd our driver, met him outside, and headed to Charles-de-Gaulle airport and home.  Sainte-Chapelle served as a dramatic and breathtaking coda to our trip.