I was on a tour of Loire valley chateaus in 1995 when we visited Chartres cathedral. It was in January in the middle of a cold rainstorm so the interior seemed beautiful but gloomy.
Our tour took TWA 800 from JFK to Paris on that trip and at that time flight 800 went on from Paris to Tel Aviv so there were many Israelis on board. When TWA 800 went down in the summer of 1996, I was sure it was terrorism. Maybe I’m a conspiracy theorist, but the investigations have not changed my mind.
When I visited it was May and cool but sunny. Oddly it was closed when we arrived due to some gathering of Sri Lankans who were also on the train we took from Paris. It would open later in the day which is when we got to view the inside. It also was a bit dark but maybe not as dark as you saw it. This restoration once it’s complete might be worth a second viewing. When I saw the Sistine the restoration of the ceiling was done but they were still working on the panels near the floor.