Paris is by far my favourite of the four major European cities that I have visited so far. Even the back streets are gorgeous with their black balconies and architecture.
Before meeting up with a friend from home, I got off the subway to find myself standing in front of the Louvre. It was beautifully lit. I am still undecided as to whether or not I like the pyramid. It doesn't quite fit, but it adds something to a square that might otherwise seem empty. We took lots of pictures and then headed off for a late dinner. I made the decision upon my arrival that if I was coming to Paris; I was going to eat French food. We found ourselves a little restaurant and had a three course meal, quite different from the student dishes and never ending ham sandwiches that I have been having in Louvain-la-Neuve. We were the last to leave the restaurant. I started with a crab soup, which was absolutely delicious. I chose to have chicken with leak in a cream saffron sauce, also very good. The waiter suggested that we all share a piece of chocolate cake. As the awesome Canadian girls that we are, we each had our own piece. J
With very little time in Paris, on Saturday we started the big loop of Paris. We first went to the Louvre to see it during the day. We made our way up the Champs Elysées (trying to blend in at the Louis Vitton store) to the Arc de Triomphe. We discovered that if you go to the far side, there is no one there and we were able to take lots of pictures. We made our way down to the Eiffel Tower and stood there staring at how cool it is. We took the subway to Notre-Dame, which was of course beautiful even in the rain, with water pouring out of the gargoyles' mouths. Either my friend and I look like terrorists, or the armed officers had nothing better to do, but we were followed around by armed men as we toured around Notre-Dame and the back garden. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go in. Next time!! We went to the Jewish memorial which is located right behind Notre-Dame. It was a completely different way of remembering all of the people who were put in internment camps. They tried to be very symbolic in terms of narrow passageways and other architecture made to represent the confined spaces and barbed wire.
We headed to the hotel national des invalides (musée de l'armée) where we walked around the main courtyard as well as the second floor. I was touched by the number of plaques that lined the walls recognizing the participants and the hundreds of thousands who died in the First World War including the nurses, polish volunteers and Moroccan volunteers, to name a few. The one I found most striking was the plaque that had been mounted to recognize the Jewish volunteers during the war. Underneath was another plaque which explained that during the WWII, the Germans stole the plaque and placed it in their own war museum as a trophy of their victory. In 1946, once the war was over, as part of the mission to rebuild Europe, the plaque was reclaimed and put back in the war museum in Paris.
Saturday night we took the train the small city of Arras in Northern France. Sunday morning we took a taxi up to Vimy Ridge for the Remembrance Day ceremonies. All of a sudden as we headed up towards the monument, the ground was suddenly bumpy with all of the craters from all of the mines. So much of the land is still closed off because of unexploded munitions. A few seconds later, everything opened up and we could see the huge monument in the middle of the field and you could see out for miles over the ridge.
A bunch of bureaucrats were attending the ceremony including the Canadian Ambassador in France, some French politicians as well as the Canadian keynotes, the head of the Canadian Space Agency and Gilles Duceppe. There were maybe a hundred and fifty of us in total. I was surprised that the ceremony was mainly in French. I understand that we are in France and French was the first language for many of the speakers, but there were still many Canadians there who spoke no French at all so much of what was said went over their heads.
After the ceremony, we were approached by a reported from the Canadian Press as well as some other people who found it was quite odd to see a bunch of young people there. The visit to Vimy Ridge was organized by someone I know in Commerce at Queen's and we had each brought a couple of Canadians that we had met on exchange. On our tour of the trenches they asked us again about how we had ended up at Vimy. Usually it is older people who visit Vimy, or people who from the armed forces who are currently serving overseas. One particular older Quebec man visits Vimy every day. Apparently during WWII he was captured by the Germans, we weren't sure if it was a prisoner of war, but he was forced to mine and dig for the Germans. Either way, having people our age at Vimy is very unusual. We could see that the tour guides were also happy to have people their own age around.
We toured the trenches that have been maintained as well as the section of the tunnels. I found it interesting that there was a completely different methodology in how the trenches were built. On the German side, the trenches were set up in a more permanent way, with wider, more systematic trenches with certain parts made out of cement. The Germans had gained this position and were going to maintain it. On the Allies or Canadian side, it was all about moving forward. We only wanted to be there as long was necessary. The soldiers survived in the mud and were always pushing forward, it wasn't about being comfortable. Before the attack, the soldiers had to stay in the tunnels underground for 36 hours without moving, with only 12 hours worth of rations before attacking. I don't know how they did it considering how little room there is in the tunnels. I barely clear the overhead support beams and you could barely put two of me standing shoulder to shoulder in some of the sections.
I had always thought that the Vimy monument had been built after WWII and found it incredible that it had been built in 1920 and was able to withstand WWII. We discovered in the tour that while other monuments throughout Europe had been destroyed during WWII, Hitler respected the Vimy monument and did not want it destroyed. The monument wasn't about a celebration of victory or beating the Germans, but about commemorating lost soldiers during war and peace. He specifically ordered that it not be destroyed.
As my friend said, being at Vimy was like being home. We were surrounded by friendly Canadians, discussing where we all came from, why we were in Europe etc. Not to say that the French or the Belgians aren't friendly – but it's not the same. We also got to see some good old Canadian politics at work. We were down in the tunnels, and after being down there less than 10 minutes, we were told that we would have to back up because the next tour group wanted to come down. So, the 25 of us cut our tour short and headed back outside. Who was waiting to go down? None other than Gilles Duceppe and his 3 assistants, completely oblivious. We all looked at each other and shook our heads – even the guys from Montreal were laughing. We later found out that he had also requested a francophone tour guide. Not an Anglophone who can speak French, not a bilingual from Ottawa. Nope, it had to be the one francophone who works at Vimy Ridge.
After leaving Vimy, we spent some time around Arras. In the old part it is very quaint. As we put it, its architecture is very Belgian. Yes, we are starting to recognize different architecture styles. Its Grande-Place is actually much bigger than the Grande-Place although much simpler with less gold and no columns.
Sunday night we returned to Paris and went by Moulin Rouge and walked up over 100 stairs to Montmatre, where we accidentally ended up sitting through a mass. We got out early enough that we were able to see the Eiffel Tower light show. It was beautiful to see from up the hill. That night, I got my final French meal consisting of Onion Soup and Boeuf Bourguignon. I have to say, Mom's soup is better J
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