Monday, April 22, 2013

France - Crazy Easter at Notre Dame

I spent my Easter in Paris, and celebrated it in Notre Dame! Wow, that's cool! Well, it was actually VERY NOT COOL. Why?

1. I had to queue for at least 30 minutes just to enter the church, and it was cold outside (~10C, I believe).



2. I'm competing with these tourists from all over the world who just wanted to take pictures of Easter mass, the church, the archbishop, the pastor, the clergymen, and everything.



 I had to swim across the sea of humans.


3. I had to deal with visitors who were forcefully dragged by their family member(s) to join the mass for whatever reason it was, and they were just the worst distractions ever. I shall not explain further because it will trigger my unpleasant memory about that mass again.

4. The problem doesn't end with the mass. During Easter, Paris became overcrowded with tourists and knowing that pickpockets are everywhere around the corner of Paris, I had to raise my guard higher than before. I have seen moments of people realizing they have become the victim of those pickpockets.

Basically, if I ever had to be in Paris during Easter, I'd rather stay at home or go somewhere far away where tourists can't reach. I wouldn't blame the tourists, because if I were to live in neighboring European countries and I have this sweet long holiday over the weekend, I'd check out Paris.

Oh, and when they say "International Mass", it means everything is in French except during the readings, and only 1 reading is done in English; the rest of the readings were either in Spanish, Italian, or of course, French.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome, but please comment responsibly :)