“Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair. come,
even if you have broken your vows a thousand times.
Come, yet again , come , come.”
– Rumi
Watching a whirling dervish ceremony is an experience. I would not necessarily classify it as a spiritual one. But it sure does make you wonder about God.
You can read my article on the Dervishes here.
I strongly believe that everything and everybody has a story to tell. It’s just a matter of listening. When I travelled to Paris last year I did all the touristy things. It was nice but what I really enjoyed was the walking tours conducted by the Parisian. Oh! They had so many stories to tell.
Notre Dame Cathedral
It is said that the architect was a narcissist and he had a statue of his resemblance erected along with those of the disciples and saints. So check before you petition!
13 Disciples?
‘Locked on’
The story goes that two lovers, a Romeo and Juliet of sorts, as a token of their undying love to each other ‘locked’ their hearts to a bridge and threw the keys into the river. According to the story as long as their hearts remained ‘locked’ nothing on earth could tear them apart.Maybe it worked for them, because I came across a lot of locks. I wonder if the owners of the rusted ones are still ‘locked’ on to each other.
Locked on
Helen and Albert
This ones a very queer story. Helen was a nun and Albert was a priest. Yes you guess it, they fell in love with each other. There is a long story regarding their unfortunate love story. But I will not bore you. Anyways it came to be that when there died they were buried next to each other in the same grave, somewhere inside this house. But the owner of the house being deeply religious could not bear the thought of them being next to each other that he exhumed the bodies and had a partition built in between them.
In death you shall be apart!
The oldest tree in Paris
The tree in the right upper corner of the picture is oldest tree in Paris. It is a pleasant place to picnic on a baguette early in the morning, that is if you don’t mind the company of hungry demanding birds.
The oldest tree
The Gargoyles of the Notre Dame
The gargoyles around the cathedral are a sight especially when it is raining. They were designed in such a manner that when it rains the water flows down the gargoyles through narrow opening in the mouth so as to give an impression that they were drooling.
The Droolers
Paris has a lot of these queer interesting stories. I would recommend joining a walking tour if you have the time. Most of them are free although tips are accepted and appreciated. There is a lot of things you could learn in that one hour than in reading the guide book from cover to cover!
Please forgive the quality of the pictures. They were taken at a time when to me all photography meant was ‘click click’. Times have changed; I guarantee that.
” To fight the English” , there that sums up centuries of Scottish history ” said Gatsby the New Edinburgh free tour guide. And I was learn a couple of days and a couple of 100 miles later that he was only partially right!
In my opinion, the summation of Scottish history is dependent on the geographical location. If you were at the border, then yes most of your resources would be spent in fighting the English; but if you were in the highlands or the islands, fighting the English would take a back seat. You would be more invested in fighting the other clans.
Eilean Donan Castle
The beauty of Scottish history is that there are many clans and relatively few heroes. The ideal way to acquaint yourself with the history of the land will be
a). Take a guided tour from Glasgow/Edinburgh or
b). Be hosted by a Scotsman.
I had the good fortune of options a and b. At the end of it I came to the conclusion that ‘Who’s wrong, Who’s right‘ in the stories largely depend on who is narrating the story.
My host , a McDonald spoke eloquently about his clan. He gave vivid narrations about the Glen Coe massacre, how the Campbell butchered the McDonalds after the latter had opened their homes to them.
My tour guide, a Stewart started the Glen Coe story a little earlier in the timeline. According to his version, the McDonalds had raided a Campbell wedding party torched the homes and stole their cattle much before the Glen Coe Massacre.
Glen Coe
The only time my host and the guide were in syn was when they narrated the stories about William Wallace and Robert Bruce. England seemed to be a common foe .
Despite the contradictory versions of the events in Scottish history I still think it’s a treat to hear it from a Scotsman. To them their history is very personal even today.
My host told me of a time when he a called a customer agency . When he gave his details the lady on the other side warmed up immediately and said,
” Oh you are a Mc Donald too “.
” But I have to tell you”, confessed my host,” My mother was English”.
“Oh, that’s alright. My dad married a Campbell! “.
And that ladies and gentlemen is a synopsis of Scottish history.
I found Paris in the small streets. Those streets you would think twice about and then unceremoniously continue walking along the main street.Its an alien feeling when you realise that you are invading a true Parisian hangout. Chances are you will never blend with the crowd. I didn’t even try.
Here’s my list. Personally I am glad that these are not there in any guide books. No! That would mean desecration!!!
1. La Cuortiserrie:
It’s more than coffee and a snack. It’s hours of gazing at funny animals, tracing them out on napkins.
2. Shakespeare and Co Book company
” …. when I told my mom that I wanted to open a book shop in Paris, she sent me her whole life savings.” And the result is a life well spent. This is not exactly side street and the truth be told it is found in the Lonely Planet under the book store section. My beef with the Lonley Planet is for dismissing it merely as a book store.
This book store has a lot of history. Silvia Beach published James Joyce ‘Ulysses’. Ironically I am reading that same book while on the trip.
I walked into the Antiquarian book store without reading the sign over the door. While browsing through the books I found a Hemingway. It was only 7.60 and it was hard bound. What a find!!!
I was thrilled and handed the woman at the desk a ten euro bill. She had the weirdest look . She was kind enough to tell me that the 7.60 was the price when it was first published. I checked the edition and behold it was a first edition. I was beginning to think that this book was a steal. Before I could revel in my find the lady turned to the last page and showed the new price tag 800s Euro and below that was the seal of the Shakespeare Antiquarian book store. What was I even thinking!
3. Au Panetier
This is by far my best find ever. In fact I read about this in blog and searched for two days before I actually found it. When I go back to Paris I know in advance my #1 stop!
My only regret at the Louvre was that I was able to follow only English. Many times I saw mothers and fathers holding their stomachs laughing. I caught a few ones that cracked me up. Here are the ones I remember.
At the Mona Lisa:
>>>She is not even pretty!!!
>>>That is the Mona Lisa!!!???? Dude! WTF!
At Micheal Angelo’s Captive Slave:
>>>Mom he has no pants on!
At Canova’s Psyche and cupid:
>>>Are they doing yoga?
At the consecration:
>>>Damn all this while I thought Napoleon was a guy!!
A note to this painting:- It threw me off too. Of course I knew Napoleon was a guy. But a casual glance at the painting shows Josephine kneeling to receive the crown.
At the Greek Antiquities:
>>>Are all people from greek without head?
>>>Nice Ass!
Marie Lisa Jose
