On the Road to Paris

Whenever I mention something that happened in Europe, a woman I know launches into telling about a 12-day, 6-nation trip she made with her husband. “We had a tour guide who told us all about the places we visited.” She thinks she saw all of Europe and knows all about it.

She also told me, “Those countries are so small, you can see four or five countries in one day.”

There are places in Europe where this is possible. In the U.S. we can do this, too. In the East, you only have to drive a few miles to go from Maryland to Pennsylvania to New Jersey and end up in Delaware.. There is a plaque on the ground at the Four Corners where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado come together. You can “tour” all four states in 20 seconds.

David and I were in five countries in one long, hard day in which we crossed one small corner of Germany at night and saw nothing. It took another long day in France to go from Colmar to Paris.

France is smaller than Texas, but it is bigger than all other U.S. states. I admit we made a couple of stops along the way.

The first detour was to a mountain-top village of Vezelay. a little town of less than 500 people. I had read about its very old church, where in 1148 St. Bernard preached a dynamic sermon which inspired Frenchmen to go on the 2nd Crusade.

(George W. Bush referred to our invasion of Iraq as a “Crusade”. This angered Muslims. After 1,000 years they still remember when Christian Crusaders invaded their countries. I still hear Texans say we fought for “Iraqi Freedom”; the Iraqis considered us foreign invaders trying to subvert their religion.)

As a student of architecture, I was thrilled to see the church at Vezelay with its triple doorway, each door embellished with elaborately carved Gothic arches, a fine example of Medival architecture. Stepping inside, I was awe-struck by its quiet, holy atmosphere. The Church of the Madeleine was built here at a Benedictine abbey to house the supposed remains of St. Mary Madeleine. Pilgrims still come to this remote place today. It was awesome to stand on the stone floor inside that old church and feel the ghosts of thousands of Christians who have worshiped there since the 10th Century.

From our brief stop in Vezelay we reached Dijon, capital of Burgundy, in time for lunch. What fun to eat beef bourgeron in Burgundy! Can’t remember if I had a glass of Burgundy wine.

Our brief visits in Vezelay and Dijon were no better than my friend’s glimpses of cities on her 12-day, 6-city tour. It is like eating one cracker with a bit of cheese on top and missing the six-course meal. On that trip with David, I got a taste of Europe and wanted more. I returned many times, and I never did “see it all.” That’s impossible.

Taking David with me was accidental. We saw amazing art and architecture (my fault as art is my passion). Another case of going to see one thing and learning something more important. My 13-year-old kid learned there is a world outside of Illinois and the U.S. where friendly people live contented lives. All are not eager to come to America. We can learn from the Europeans.