Friday, December 30, 2005
(3:27 PM) | Dave Belcher:
Christmas in Paris
As many of you know, my mom and brother are in Burkina Faso (Northwestern Africa) for the year. Ougadougou Unviersity gave my mom a Christmas break, and since Paris is the only place she could fly to directly from Burkina, she decided to fly her family--including Jodi, Samuel, and I--to Paris for Christmas.
Though I only have a low-level reading proficiency of French, have never had a class in French, and can't speak it very well at all, I was doing about as well or better than the rest of my family while there; so, you can imagine that it was somewhat difficult communicating. This was probably the only thing I didn't like about our trip: even when I would say something in French to someone that was correct, and French (and I can at least say this comparatively, based on hearing other French people saying these fucking words), they still looked at me as though I had dropped in from some other planet, and would say, "Pardon?" Towards the end of our trip, I discovered myself saying things like, "I can't wait to get back to the States where I can actually speak with people in English." Many people have said the same thing about the French: they are very exclusivist, they refuse to allow anyone to speak their language who is not French, they are stuck up, etc. I found that this is true of some people--definitely true. However, there were many very kind people that were just as nervous when I would ask (only by necessity, as any other stupid fucking American who doesn't know more than their own language and maybe Spanish would), "Parlez vous Anglais?" Regardless, I feel I did pretty well given the language barrier.
I won't go into detail about the whole trip...just one point for now. Notre Dame was a real let down...especially compared to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. We were at the Notre Dame on Christmas Eve and there was a service happening...they had a jumbotron outside the front for all of the visitors who didn't actually (or perhaps couldn't fit?) want to go inside the church. It was much different, but it felt sort of like a Benny Hinn crusade--in one sense at least. On the inside there people EVERYWHERE, and people were flashing pics all over the place (despite the signs which said NO FLASH), and being loud.
The Sacre Coeur felt different, however. Positioned at the top of a large hill overlooking Montmartre--and I suppose all of Paris--the arabesque shape of this basilica gave an aura of mystery not captured in the Notre Dame. Of course there were people everywhere here too, but inside the church, people were ushered along to keep people flowing in and out (except for those who wanted to actually sit reverently), and there were...I don't know, I suppose you'd call them security guards requesting quiet--by Shhshing--from those who got too noisy--and thus disrespectful of the mystery contained therein. Furthermore, the inner half-dome (not the main central one, but the one over the altar) contained a mosaic of the Christ with the sacred, burning, golden heart which is quite stunning and awe-inspiring at first sight.
So, if you visit Paris anytime soon, look at pictures of Notre Dame, glance at it as you go to the Saint Chapelle, but make sure you make the hike up Montmartre and spend some time at the Sacre Coeur.
In between our Christmas eve and two-days-after-Christmas visits to the Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, we were able to see the Eiffel Tower (on Christmas night...it was packed and FREEZING), the Louvre (well, some of it at least...for Jodi and me, we saw the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan sculptures, as well as the medieval paintings), much of the Latin Quarter (don't visit Shakespeare and Co. bookstore...it was a huge let-down), the Pompidou museum of Modern Art, the Musee d'Orsay, and my brothers went under the city into the Catacombs. It was a great time, and went by too fast...but at the same time, we had almost too much time, and it's good to be home. It will be nice to visit again someday...perhaps in another life, cause Jodi and I will probably be broke the rest of this one!
