CMCFong, I did post a trip report under a separate thread with "Paris Caucus" in the title.

Sorry! I will go check it out.

I'm definitely going to visit Chartres when I'm in Paris. I could do so on any of these days: July 12 (Monday), 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 (Saturday).

Any idea which day would be best? July 14 is of course Bastille Day.

Bastille Day would probably not be the best time to visit Chartres, but any other day should be fine.

I did some more reading and found that Friday is the only day that you can get a good view of the labyrinths, because the chairs covering them are cleared away. So perhaps Friday, July 16, it will be. I hope that Malcolm Miller is giving his tour on that date (that seems to be the case), but I will phone in advance in any event.

Then again, I looked at the Chartres site and see there seems to be a special lecture on Tuesday, July 13:

mardi 13 juillet 2004
Cathédrale
17h
LES MARDIS DE LA CATHEDRALE
Les anges dans la cathédrale par Francine JOURDAN.
Organisateur : Service Accueil-Visites - 02 37 21 75 02 Rendez-vous au bas de la nef près du stand de cartes postales.

You can see a list of special Chartres events here:
http://www.chartres.com/va/manif.php

Be sure and visit the crypt (tickets available at the excellent gift shop next to the apse) and look at the view from the garden behind the apse.

I did Malcom Millers tour in 1990 which was excellent and again this year. There was one change since 1990, you have to pay upfront rather than at the end. I soon found out why. I can only speak for the tour I was on but he simply droned on without any emotion. Sometimes you could barely hear him and it just seemed that he had no interest in what he was doing. It was like watching paint dry. There was no passion at all. It also seemed like he was rushing through it. I am sad to say that I would not recommend his tour based on my recent experience. Perhaps it was just a bad day for him.......

Sorry to hear that MorganB. I'll give a report after I go. BTilke's husband enjoyed the tour in February, so hopefully your experience just happened on an "off" day.

I heard something of the same sort about Malcolm Miller when I was talking to a docent at the National Cathedral in April. She had organized a group tour to Chartres and the program with Mr. Miller was to have been a highlight. But she said he was quite rude to the group, not wanting to spend any time answering questions and generally seeming uninterested. I found that very sad, as he was so stimulating when we heard him the last time around. I suppose that after all these years he must be running down at last. I'll be interested in hearing WillTravel's report.

I found this paraphrased quote from Malcolm Miller in an article. I suppose a steady diet of such happenings could dampen his enthusiasm:

And Malcolm Miller, who has guided tourists around the cathedral for more than 40 years, can't help but catalog the "vulgarity" of the visitors: the woman who asked what he meant by the terms Old Testament and New Testament;
the one who let her dog drink the holy water; the couple ? he shirtless, she in a bikini ? who arrived on a feast day, strode up to the altar and took a flash photo of the bishop, mid-Mass."

Too bad about Mr.Miller's enthusiasm. My parents saw him speak a few years ago at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and we're all looking forward to going to Chartres this September.

Is it possible his waning entusiasm is due in part also to his older age... isn't the guy in his 70s by now? Dragging tourists around all day might be hard on him, even if he loves it. Let alone dealing with total phillistines who behave that way. I'm not even religious and I know the difference between the two testaments.

I look forward to reading WillTravel's update... maybe it was a fluke?

Are there any other good tours, if MM's losing steam?

Thanks,
Kat

I can readily imagine that Malcolm Miller is getting a bit tired of it all by now. As for another good tour, I don't think anything would come up to what he can do when he's fired with enthusiasm for the cathedral. Let's hope you're there on a good day.

We took a tour with Malcolm Miller last July and enjoyed it much more than we expected to. He does like to run the tour his way (who could blame him) and has his opinions, but I would definitely say he was engaging and we learned a lot. Perhaps some days are better than others, but I would recommend taking one of his tours.