Marching for Peace

This last weekend, I went to an interfaith march for peace.  If you know me, you know this is right up my alley, and I couldn't let it go by, even if it was a bit difficult to get to.  It was in a suburb of Paris which would have had me need to take three different regional trains to get to, and get back from, at 11 PM at night.  Because of that, I went with a carpool of people from my church.  What an experience!  We didn't drop the fact on them that we aren't fluent in French until after we met up with them.  But they were sure nice about it... speaking slowly to us and enunciating.  We were able to understand most of what they said, and they could understand us too.  Fun!

The march started at a Buddhist pagoda.

Inside, we listened to some chanting in Vietnamese.

 Then we went off to our next destination.  Our group marched through a train station:

It was just so much easier than going around!

The next stop was a Jewish Synagogue.  Of the places we visited, it was the smallest, so our growing group of  1,100 people could not actually fit inside.  So we prayed outside as someone read a Psalm over the loudspeaker in Hebrew.

The view of the crowd as they march up the hill.  A lot of people came!  As we marched, lots of people looked on and some even joined us. 

Our next stop was inside the Cathedral.  This isn't my picture, but I added it because it is pretty awesome.  This modern cathedral is well known because of the trees on the roof.  Since it was dark, I didn't get a good shot of it.

by Rabanus Flavus

Inside was seating for 1,100 people.  It was totally packed. 

 

A choir sang the Our Father - they were quite good!

 

Our next stop was a mosque.

Some of the beautiful artwork inside.

The ceiling was really cool!  The walls and ceiling of the entire building were decorated in intricate geometric carvings.

 

The rug was made of parallel prayer segments that people line up to use during the service, all facing towards Mecca.

After the prayers in the mosque, the religious leaders share thoughts of peace.

Two rabbis, a cardinal and a pastor.

An Imam, some of the organizers, and some Buddhist monks.

The experience was so wonderful.  It's so great to see people taking a stand saying yes - we believe peace is possible!  More than a thousand people left their warm houses and spent three hours outside on a cold October night.  Rather than complaining about the world, they showed the world that we can come together regardless of race, religion, or creed.  (And that message is the same no matter what language it is said in - English, French, Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, or Vietnamese.)  :-)

The Dangers of French Dining

So last night, we went out to eat with one of my husband's French friends.  The French language found on menus was one of the first things I learned on coming to France, but last night was different.  We went to a very "French" restaurant, which had things on the menu which a.) were either hard to translate or b.) were fun things that the French eat but that Americans in general do not, ie andouillette or steak tartar.  (If you don't know what either of these are, I would recommend a google search on your part.)

Anyways, something that caught our eye - Ris de veau.  Veal with rice?  Bram's friend confirmed it - he thought it was some sort of risotto with veal and mushrooms.

So we ordered it.

It wasn't risotto.

See, in French, rice is spelled riz.  On the menu, what we ordered was ris.  I thought it was a typo.

It wasn't a typo.

Shortly afterwards, this is what was delivered to our table:

This is not risotto.  I did not know what this is.

My husband's friend looks at it and realizes his mistake.  He didn't know what it is, so googles it on his phone.  He then tells us he will tell us what it is after we eat it.

Uh uh.  I google it myself, but google translate does not help me.  So I start to eat.  But apparently, my stomach does not like the fact it doesn't know what it's eating.  It is decidedly NOT HAPPY. 

I look over at my husband's friend who is whispering to his girlfriend what it is.  He gestures at his ear.  Oh my gosh, I'm eating ear?  No, he assures me, I am not eating ear.

So finally I find out what it is - sweetbread, or rather, the gullet of a calf.  Knowledge did not make my stomach any happier.  The consistency was just too strange for me.  The waitress had a good laugh at our expense when she heard of our mistranslation, and told us that Americans normally don't order that.

Ha ha.

Ironically, if you go to Wikipedia, the entry for sweetbreads shows it on a bed of mushroom risotto:

Paris by Boat

My group recently took a boat cruise, during which we listened to talks all day.  The talks were in French, and I spent most of the day being so sick I couldn't even look at the screen as it bobbed up and down in front of my eyes.  But that's ok, it gave me an excuse to sit on the deck and watch Paris float by.  (Which, I'm sorry, is more fun than listening to science talks in French.  Even the organizer agreed with me on that one.) 

Being from the desert, I am still amazed by so much water.  We went through several locks.

The lock begins to fill with water.

Totally filled with water now.

And the floodgates open!

Some of the locks were quite deep.

 

We headed south-east of Paris.  We went through beautiful suburbs that I didn't even knew existed.

Many trees beginning to turn color and very nice houses.

Wouldn't be a bad place to live.

We even went through a tunnel.

One of the interesting things we saw: a floating swimming pool on the river.

Back in Paris proper.  The Eiffel Tower in the background.

Sailing towards Notre Dame.

On the other side of Notre Dame now, seeing the bridge that connects Île de Cité and Île St. Louis. 

Entering our final lock.

It fills with gushing water!

Almost all filled now!

And it opens!

Nuit Blanche. A Night of Art? Maybe. A Night of Confusion? Definetly.

For the second year in a row, I made the trek out to Nuit Blanche, a night where all of Paris forsakes sleep in their love of art.   That's right, millions of people wander the streets all night, going from parks to churches to courtyards to see various art exhibits that have been put up.  Last year was amazing.  So amazing that millions of people went this year, making lines 3 blocks long to see one art exhibit.  It was a bit too crazy for me.  But there were a few things I managed to see, despite the crowds.

The first was in a gymnasium.  We walked into the dark room and there was a glowing wall of blue lights.  Pretty cool - although we didn't get it.  Many people lined up to take pictures of the "art".

Ah!  But to our surprise, that wall wasn't the art!  It was on the other side, a giant "yeti" - which looked more like a red furbie filled with Christmas lights...

Yeah, I didn't get it either.

We moved on to one of the most popular exhibits, that had a wait of an hour and a half to get into.  Well, to make a long story short, we didn't wait in line, but looked over the  heads to see what everyone was waiting for.  It did look cool - a courtyard where they made it "rain" - and the rain was purple. 

Picture taken over the crowd of Purple Rain

In another courtyard was a very interesting sculpture.

Another piece of "art" that reflected the disappointment some people feel at seeing modern art. 

Well, they successfully conveyed their message...

Another short film was a series of images telling the story of a fallen angel.  Some pictures from the film are below.

We finally wandered to the modern art museum, Centre Pompidou.  It betrays modern art well.  

I call it the world's ugliest building.

Now some videos!  The first is an art exhibit that composed of a room filled with fog, a bilinking white light, and, if you looked really carefully, figures in the fog.  Warning: blinking light may not be pleasant for all.

 

The next video was projected on a wall of a building and portrayed the hopelessness of the post-industrial world.

There were people and cars everywhere, which was my main complaint.  The roads were not closed off, so I almost got hit by a bus, a bike, and a parade.  That's right, a parade.  People got more celebratory as the evening wore on.  Here's the parade.  Many people were incorporated as it made its way by.

Wandering through Paris with the Parents: Part 2

Shortly after my parents left, my husband's parents came to visit us.  They were here for my birthday.  To celebrate, we went to the Cathedral of St. Denis, which is far northern Paris.  So far, in fact, that many people don't go there at all.  I have been wanting to go for a while - it is a church featured in a book I read recently - Pillars of the Earth - and many of the architectural styles talked about in that book were used first in this church.

This church was visited hundreds of years ago by Joan of Arc.

St. Denis is named after the martyr that was killed in Paris by beheading.  After he was decapitated, he calmly picked up his head, walked 10 kilometers while still preaching, washed off his head, and died on the spot of the future cathedral.  The stained glass tells the story.

As do the sculptures.

Poor guy.  It's a heck of a way to be remembered.

Inside the cathedral is the cite where all of the kings and queens of France were buried.  Most have a monument devoted to them.

Monument to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. 

The mausoleum continues far beneath the church and dates backs for nearly a thousand years.

Some of the famous kings and queens buried here. 

King Louis' XIV tomb.

Kinda a weird place to spend one's birthday, right?  Back up to ground level, we take them to a picnic on the Seine.

Enjoying wine and cheese on the river, like real French people!

Nearby, Notre Dame is in the process of being cleaned.  It's easy to tell the difference between the newly cleaned, shimmering white façade, and the gray, sooty side of the church.

And Sacre Coeur.

Nearby, we found Pac Man!