Sunday, November 2, 2008

All Saints Day

Actually, these photos are from the day after All Saints Day. And there's nothing like a stroll through Montparnasse Cemetery for perspective. Or as that great philosopher David St. Hubbins said while standing at Elvis' grave, "Too much, there's too much [bleep]ing perspective now."

Parisiens take All Saints Day seriously - people go to the cemeteries and decorate graves, clean them up, pray, cry, grieve. It's a bit foreign to us Anglo-Saxons. A few days ago in our cultural training session, one of our instructors "insisted" [her word] that France is a Latin country. This was in response to my question that went something like, "Why do they call us Anglo-Saxons? Aren't we basically from the same genetic background?" And that led to a very interesting history lesson about Gauls and Romans and Francs and Norsemen and William the Conqueror and many others. Bottom line: no, the French are different. She insists.





































2 comments:

Elaine Burnett said...

These are beautiful photos. Art for my Sunday afternoon......it doesn't get any better than this.

M.dou said...

hi craig and lora. enjoy your posts!

lora, i was scrolling through some of our old posts and just noticed a comment you made in mid-September, responding to some of my thoughts on being lonely in a foreign place.

mid-september seems like so long ago, so i'm sure you and i are both at different places in the adjustment process, but that sense that we are "aliens in a foreign land" still pops up every once in awhile, and it's always nice to know we have fellow commiserators out there. :)

hope autumn in Paris is being good to you two. take care!