Despite my lack of sleep this entire week, I awoke this morning around seven to leave for Beauvais at 8h30. Mr. and Mme. Delesalle came to pick me up from the house, and we drove about two hours to see the cathedral. It was beautiful! Plus, the town had cleaned it, so the front half was a pearly white that almost hurt my eyes! The grandeur of the church was incredible. It was so large that it had already collapsed twice; ironically, it was not even completed. The entire church consists of just a choir and a transept; there exists no nave, and if there did, it would be four times the size it is now!
After lunch, we drove for another hour or so until Chantilly. Driving around the town, I realized that that was the town in which I had dreamed of living. It looked so typical French, especially with the imposing chateau in the background. I wish I had had more of an opportunity to visit multiple chateaux. This one was magnificent! Apparently, the last Duke who owned it gave it to France with the stipulation that his art collection remain exactly as is. Boy, does he have a collection! Among the artists displayed, Raphael, Delacroix, Fouquet, and Poussin are some of the most well known. When we finished the tour of the chateau itself, we moseyed on over to the stables. If anyone else saw them without knowing what they were, he would confuse them for a chateau, too! They are the most elegant stables I have ever seen in my entire life. It's because the Prince who lived there believed that horses were the reincarnation of human beings, so he made a temple devoted to them.
Since Mr. Delesalle used to be the principal of Lycee Saint Paul for twenty-eight years, he took me to see the chapel within the school when we returned. He could not believe that I had attended the school for an entire year without going in there!
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