grandma's wanderlust: Paris

grandma's wanderlust: Paris: View of Paris from Sacré-Cœur After leaving Iceland, we went to France as I wanted Hailey to see the beautiful Chateau de L'Isle...

Paris

View of Paris from

Sacré-Cœur

After leaving Iceland, we went to France as I wanted Hailey to see the beautiful Chateau de L'Isle-Marie in Normandy, but first a stop in one of my favorite’s cities in the world: Paris.

Of course, I wanted Hailey to see where I lived when I attended La Sorbonne and also to see the beautiful University, and all the touristic places that the city offers. 

We walked along the Seine. Obviously, we visited the Eifel Tower, the Champs Elysees, the Arch of Triumph, Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre, and Notre Dame, which breaks my heart to write about that beautiful church with so much history in it, and now some parts of it do not exist any longer due to the fire of a few days ago.

Anyway, only a week is not enough to see everything, so we saw the touristic places and spend a lot of time eating.

We did not take any of the free tours because I know all the places and its history, so, I was her guide. 

Sometimes I forget that most people don’t walk as much as I do. Hailey was dead tired by the time we finish, well, we finish every day because she was tired, I could have kept on going.

La Sorbonne

In 1253, Robert de Sorbon at the request of Louis IX opened a college for 16 needy students who wanted to study theology. The university comes to be known as La Sorbonne, and nowadays, it is still one of the most prestigious universities not just in Paris but in the world. The excellent reputation since the beginning transformed from humble beginnings into a prestigious and elitist university dedicated to culture, science, and art.

La Sorbonne taught many of the great philosophers and masters of theology and history. One of the most famous alumni is Marie Curie, physicist and chemist and the first woman professor at the university. 

The baroque architectural style of the building is magnificent, as is the Auberge de Jeunes, where I used to live. 

The Eifel Tower

The government wanted an impressive monument at the entrance of the World Fair from May 6 to October 31, 1889, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. 

Gustave Eiffel designed and built the tower which measures 324 meters = 1063 feet.

You can climb 1710 steps, or you can take an elevator to the top. The views from the top are magnificent, and you can see all of Paris at your feet.

Montmartre

Sacré-Coeur

Montmartre is the second largest hill in Paris, with the largest hill being in Belleville. It is situated in the 18th arrondissement, and it is better known for the white-domed Basilica of Sacré-Cœur and the Moulin Rouge.

The Basilica of Sacré-Coeur was built in the Roman-Byzantine style between 1876 and 1910 to commemorate the defeat of France in 1871 during the Franco-German War and as a tribute to the 58,000 lives lost.

You can take the funicular to the top, climb the stairs, or
you can walk through the back streets while seeing the picturesque bohemian neighborhood. And that is what we did. Once you reach the church, you will have a magnificent view of Paris. On the way down we walked the 222 steps through the Louise Michel public garden.

From there a visit to the famous and pictures cobblestone square of the Place du Tertre, filled with artist stalls painting and selling their beautiful colorful paintings. This square was the main square of a medieval village before being part of Paris.

And to the Moulin Rouge, the birthplace of the can-can. The Moulin Rouge is also famous for the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec who was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose paintings of the provocative and sometimes decadent dance is among the best-known painters of the Post-Impressionist period as Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin.

You need a whole day to walk through Montmartre as there is much to see.

grandma's wanderlust: Novitiate (2017)

grandma's wanderlust: Novitiate (2017): In a dark, cold, rainy day, there is nothing better than to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket and watch a movie. As I was flick...

Novitiate (2017)

In a dark, cold, rainy day, there is nothing better than to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket and watch a movie.

As I was flicking through Netflix, I came across Novitiate, and remembering all the fuss a couple of years ago, I decided to watch it, and I am glad I did.

The movie is directed and written by Maggie Betts, with Mellisa Leo as the Mother Superior Marie Saint-Clair, and Margaret Qualley as Sister Cathleen Harris.

The movie is set in 1960 during the radical changes throughout the world under Vatican II, and it depicts the shifts in ideology and the seizing of long-held beliefs and the brutality and rigidity of the rules practiced, by trying to shift the ideology to foster openness and inclusiveness.

Not long into the movie, maybe about 10 minutes or so, when a young Cathleen enters catholic school, the teacher nun writes in the blackboard:

"There is no love without sacrifice," at that moment I felt like I was living in the convent once again.

Granted, my experiences were different as Cathleen was a 17-year-old postulant and I was 8 years old when I was sent to the convent. Needless to say, the teachings were the same as I was there in the late 50's early 60's. Many parts of the movie resonated in my sub-conscience, bringing back many forgotten memories.

As in the picture, we had to walk slowly and always looking at the floor. Even when we spoke with somebody, and that was only to answer a question as we were not allowed to speak; we had to look down, never at somebody's face. We were also thought that we should kneel on pebbles until our knees bled, so God can see how much we loved him, and he would love us more than mere people that kneeled on a comfy hassock.

 I can attest that the brutality and rigidity of the rules were unbearable.

We were too young to do flagellation, even though that we were told that once we were older, we should do it. However, only once a week and only five flagellations, as doing it longer might give us enjoyment. 

As in the movie, my Mother Superior was to be replaced because she refused to adapt to the new rules; however, she renounced her vocation as most of the nun at my school did, and they all left the convent.

I don’t know if Mother Superior Margarethe, had a soothing voice, the only time I heard her voice was for reprimands and it was always stern, besides, in my opinion, she was sadistic and manipulative, and she thought that she was better than everybody else. Moreover, I do not remember seeing her leave the convent on any occasion.

I can understand Mother Superior Marie Saint-Claire reasoning for not wanting to adjust to the new rules, and why she was so stern, as she believed she was the voice of God in the convent. And as somebody that had not left the convent for over 40 years, she was delusional in her beliefs. Also, living that way has to be frustrating.

The film is well made and very strong, and I liked that they did not criticize the Catholic religion or defend it. They merely showed what it was like, without judging, without treating the believers as idiots and without trying to get the public to accept a religious ideology.

They showed the notion that the postulants had about being nuns, at the same time they showed the concerns they felt about a life so rigorous and so remote from the real world.

The movie is slow and long, however, that it’s how I felt when I was in the convent, the days were long and slow, the weeks, the months, they seem never to end. The only thing I liked was singing in the choir and the embroidery classes.

FYI, I went to a Carmelita's convent, if you are Catholic you know who they are, if you are not, they are one of the most rigid, if not the most rigid, silent order.