skatterfly

Hi everyone,
Was just checking out timetables for train to Chartres... and had a couple questions:

1) The Sncf website lists almost twice as many trains as the Rail Europe site. I'm assuming I can trust SNCF's site... wonder why Rail Europe is missing so many trains, unless they are perhaps commuter trains and don't want to encourage tourists? (They're on a weekday during the 8 am to 10 am window.)

2) After arriving at the Chartres station, is it a walk to the cathedral, or cab or bus?

3) The departing station says "Montparnasse 1 et 2"... is this a different station than "Gare Montparnasse"?

Thanks!
~kat

Huitres

hi skatterfly!
The SNCF website would be accurate, and can be specific to the day of travel you want. Not sure why Rail Europe didn't bother listing them. The train from Paris's Gare Montparnasse to Chartres is easy, and so is navigating the town. I walked from the train station down to the cathedrale. The cathedrale is in the middle of town and there are cafes and places around it (expensive!). It didn't take too long to see the place, including the garden/outdoor area in the back, adjacent to the cathedrale. I made the mistake of going into one of those little cafes for some soup and walked out less 20 euros laters. It is a completely feasible day trip from Paris and a nice little town.

degas

20E for soup - did you ask for a VAT of it?

Just kidding, I how how they rip you off around the church.

Chartres is a very easy daytrip.

skatterfly

Thank you for the information.

We're going to be with a toddler and my parents, so more than likely we'll try to pack a bit of a picnic lunch instead of a restaurant.

We're going to take Malcolm Miller's tour at noon, so I wonder how much time we should devote to seeing the rest of the town?

~kat

USNR

Here are some bits from my logbook:
Left Gare Montparnasse 0912; arrived Chartres 1015. Noon lecture by M. Miller took 1 1/2 hours. Walked beyond cathedral a block or two to Brasserie Notre Dame, 36 rue des Changes. Fish, duck, white wine. About $27 US for the two of us. Walked around small city center, walls, etc. Caught the 1520 back to Paris, arrived 1630.

Christina

Raileurope is a travel agency and just can't duplicate every single small train run in Europe on its web site and keep it up-to-date; I think that would be really very difficult to do. So, they have chosen to list the main and most popular routes or those most relevant to tourists. Their web site says something like that on it.

Montparnasse has three sections in it -- all accessible from the place called Gare Montparnasse on your map or that RER/metro stop. Montparnasse 3 is the farthest away, the one at the far back (southern or maybe SW end) and not very close to a metro stop, actually. Montparnasse 2 is in the middle off the gardens -- Montparnasse 1 is the main one closest to bd Montparnasse and the closest to where you get off the metro.

jsmith

skatterfly, the walk from the station to the cathedral is UPHILL and about 700 yards. You may wish to bring binoculars to study the glass.

My wife and I ate lunch in November, 2001 in a restaurant to the right of the cathedral (as you faced it) and I guarantee we didn't pay 20 euros for soup. Since I don't have a credit card entry I must have paid cash. A study of the menus, always posted, will steer you away from the outlandishly expensive.

Adjacent to the cathedral is a small art museum and The International Stained-Glass Center with some beautiful works for sale. You may find something stiking to send home.

jsmith

Sorry that should have been "STRIKING" to send home.

Underhill

Besides the cathedral itself--and I could spend hours there admiring not just the stained glass but also the magnificent wood carvings--you can visit the crypt. Tickets are sold in the cathedral goft shop (a very good one) at the back of the cathedral to the right, near the apse.