Roaming Solo

This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Paris with my husband who was working there. "Oh, you can come," he replied when asked, "but you'll be on your own all day." As if that was something new! So armed with a quote from my much loved Dr. Seuss, “Things may happen and often do to people as brainy and footsy as you,”  I set off on another adventure, this time in the wonderful city of Paris.

Tai Chi ~ Palais de Luxembourg

 Saturday started out sunny so I walked, wandering the streets with camera in hand. We were staying in the 14th arrondissement, a walk of about 30-40 minutes into the city centre. As I wandered I saw the Parisians walking home with purpose armed with their baguettes; saw children cycling to music lessons, instrument cases on their backs  and in the Jardin du Luxembourg, gardens once walked by Marie de Medici and now a favorite park of the locals, jogging/kickboxing/tai chi' all being enjoyed in the autumn sun. From that park full of life worshipping I went to the Pantheon, an old church where the distinguished French go to be buried....Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Marie Curie, Braille, just to name a few and I was reminded of how many of the worlds great thinkers came from France.

Being a solo tourist is fine but there are times when you wish you could turn to someone and share a moment....such as when I saw this wonderful sculpture in the Pantheon of three women. It made me smile as I immediately thought of the phrase, "talk to the hand." I so dearly wanted to share this moment with someone but had to content myself with a private giggle.

Talk to the hand ~ The Pantheon

But my experience as a lone wander became more powerful when I decided to join a "free" walking tour in the afternoon. As I stood surrounded by strangers the lady next to me commented on the weather and so a conversation started. 

Her: "Where are you from?"

Me: "The UK, lived in the US for 12 years, now live in the Netherlands, and you?"
Her: " From Canada"
Me: "Whereabouts?"
Her: "Toronto"
Me: "Oh, one of my dearest friends lives there, in The Beaches"
Her: " Oh! I live there!"
Me: " Do you know Willow Ave?"
Her: "Yes"
Me: "My friend is called Bett Cole," 
Her: "You have got to be kidding me....I know Bett...she has two dogs?"   
Me: "OMG...this never happens....to actually know a person! Wow!"

We took the tour for awhile, until the rain grew too heavy to enjoy it and then ended up having lunch together. So I rounded off my wanderings chatting with a new acquaintance, in a warm cafe in Paris, over a bowl of steaming onion soup. What a great story to tell and one that would maybe not have happened if I had had a travel partner that day. We focus on each other and not on the people around us usually. This lady was a bonus as she was also interesting, a professional blogger who wrote about traveling solo.

www.solotravelerblog.com

Pont des Arts

I have other tales of interesting people I have met whilst traveling alone...although meeting someone who knows a dear friend is a first! There is the lovely young Siberian girl that I spent an hour with, on the train traveling to Munich, who was meeting her English boyfriend in Switzerland; the circus performer I met on a train going to London, and an Australian teacher I met on a walking tour of Munich. My husband has many such tales, being a solo traveler through his job. He has become friends with a woman from Las Vegas, who was traveling with her daughter, and who's photo he took in Paris...they remain in touch, and we are friends with someone in the Netherlands who's brother-in-law is a pilot with an American airline, alongside another friend of ours. 

Sunday was not a day full of amazing coincidences...well, I can't be greedy! But it was a day of more solo exploration, with a walk to Notre Dame where I stood and listened to the bells being rung for mass and pictured Disney's hunchback swinging from the ropes, a walk up the Seine to admire the bridges and Parisians taking their Sunday stroll in the sunshine and then a visit to the Musee d'Orsay. Again I missed a companion to share the wonder of the impressionist paintings surrounding me, but made do with a some quiet "wows." Martin joined me at the end of the day, before starting our journey home to the Netherlands, and we made time to watch the illuminations on the Eiffel Tower, surely one of the most iconic buildings in the world.

What did I take away from my weekend in Paris.....other than a baguette, memories of some delicious meals and the desire to return soon. I was reminded that the world is becoming smaller and that reaching out to the person next to you can provide a wonderful lunch companion or a long term friend. So next time someone smiles at you ( and you feel safe!) smile back...you never know where it'll take you or who you may meet!

A sparkling Eiffel Tower

 

Burning effigies to blacking faces....we are so un-PC!

Recently, in the Netherlands, there has been much debate about the practice of having a 'blackened faced" man as Santa's little helper and it has led me to ponder on this and a few other traditions that may not fall under the term "politically correct."

Sinterklaas with Zwarte Piets arrive in Heusden, NL

For those of you not familiar with the Dutch tradition of Zwarte Piet, let me enlighten you. Sinterklaas, the Dutch Santa Claus, arrives in the Netherlands in mid November from Spain by steam-boat, accompanied by his black-faced Moorish slave, Piet. To celebrate Sinterklaas' arrival on his white horse the Dutch, & Belgians, all welcome Piet & Sinterklaas by singing and dressing their children up like Zwarte Piet, complete with blackened faces. They are then rewarded by candy thrown to them by Zwarte Piet and his many, also blacked faced, helpers. Bear in mind that all of these "Piets" are actually white & coated with black makeup with painted red lips and afro hair wigs. Nowadays the "PC" families tell their children his face his black because of his exploits in the chimney but there is much debate every year about the racist aspect of this "blackened faced" slave. This year the UN became involved when a member commented on the slave angle of this tradition. The Dutch are divided on this issue and the racist/not racist debate continues, not least of all in my home. It is a strange throwback to a time past that, understandably, some find offensive especially as a "fifth of the Dutch population consists of people of color" according to the UK paper the Guardian. We'll wait to see how this custom survives or changes in the future.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/05/black-pete-race-netherlands

This debate made me wonder about many of our traditions, that are based in events from history that we, if we looked clearly at, might think are a little politically in-correct these days! Take for example the British tradition of Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. When you begin to explain this to non-Brits you begin to realize that it could portray us in a slightly odd way! Here we go.... James I was a Protestant king and the Catholics were not happy, they wanted a Catholic monarch. Guy Fawkes and his friends decided to blow up the Houses Of Parliament along with the king in 1605 in order to put their choice of leader on the throne...a nine year old girl! (No, her name was not Hermione!) Fawkes was a soldier with knowledge of gunpowder (ironically learned whilst fighting the Dutch in the Eighty Years war!) and planted 36 barrels under the Parliament buildings but whilst waiting to "light the blue touch paper and retire"was caught, after someone in the government received an anonymous message. During torture, (presumably the threat of being made to watch Prime Minister's Question Time), he revealed all and his fellow revolutionaries were rounded up and "hung, drawn and quartered." To celebrate this capture we now dress up a scarecrow as a "Guy" place him on a bonfire, set fire to him and light fireworks. So, yes, the British, it would seem, celebrate by burning a Catholic! Try explaining that to the Pope!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-24818807

I guess the celebration of Christopher Columbus Day in the USA is a little controversial given that he "In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue," but did not discover the New World (that was Leif Erikson) and never even set foot in North America, he was more of a Caribbean island hopper. Despite the rum punch and lazing about on the beaches, he didn't actually embrace the chilled island mentality but brutally killed and destroyed many native people. Not really an icon to celebrate either!

I am left wondering what other international traditions are similarly controversial. Is there a Viking pillager that has a national day in Norway, a convict that is celebrated in Australia or a past mafioso in Italy that gives candy out to children? It leaves me with this question, what character will future generations adopt from our culture.....and will it be "PC"?