Ok, the title is overly dramatic. I’m just borrowing it because it’s connected to Paris. I’m back from 4 days in the city of light. I traveled with 18 of my fellow young Christian Democrats to learn about the regional elections taking place in France Sunday 21 March. The experience was mixed. There were some really wonderful moments and a few not-so-great ones.
I’ll just get the bad out the way first. 1. Weather. It was atrocious. I had been longing for the evening when I could sit on the bank of the Seine looking up at the Notre Dame lit up in all its splendor. When that moment finally came, it was pouring down rain. I mean a deluge. And on the other days, when it wasn’t raining it was cold.
2. Food. Our group’s leadership neglected to do much planning for our enjoyment of French cuisine. I spent so much money on disgusting food in tourist trap restaurants. I don’t even want to think about it.
3. Hotel. Our hotel was in the twelfth arrondisement which my guide book euphemistically referred to as a “working class neighborhood.” Basically, it was all high rise apartment buildings with very little in the way of cute shops or parks. It also had a very poor metro connection.
But on to the good stuff, our group chartered a bus. We left Utrecht at 9:30 and got to Paris around 3. I’m very lucky that the organizers happened to choose Utrecht as the point of departure. Some people had to travel hours from other parts of the country.
I had a nice time chatting in the bus. After we checked into the hotel, we met up with a Dutch journalist based in Paris. We had drinks at a café while he gave us an overview of the current French political situation. Then we went to dinner at the first restaurant we could find (see point 2 above). Afterward, some people went on to a bar called Baron Rouge. I decided I’d better pace myself and went to bed instead.
The next morning we travelled to the headquarters of UMP, France’s centre-right political party. It actually reminded me a lot of the Republican Party’s HQ in DC. It’s a large old mansion with a very modern interior. We got a tour. It was the standard bland office spaces and a big press briefing room with a large party logo, etc. The head of the party’s office was pretty cool. He has a glass terrace with an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.
We met with the head of the UMP’s youth organization (Jeune Populaire) and their PR director who gave us overviews of their activities. They are very focused on social media. This video was their biggest success to date. Interesting. They also hand out party logo-branded condoms as a campaign gimmick. Wow. I don’t see any US party doing that any time soon.
We’d been told the UMP would provide us with a ‘brunch’ and were discouraged from eating too much breakfast. Luckily, I ignored that advice because the brunch was nothing more than a box of cookies and coffee (with sugar but no milk!). There’s a reason ‘French hospitality’ is not world famous.
We then took the metro to the ministry of foreign affairs where we met with Maxime Lefebvre, a diplomat and the sort of Frenchman who reminds you why Frenchmen have a reputation for arrogance. He gave us an overview of French-Dutch relations that was so aggressively erudite, I was afraid to ask any questions for fear of appearing stupid.
This meeting took place in a sunny meeting room in the ministry of foreign affairs’ office near Musee d’Orsay. We had to show our passports to go in. My Dutch companions made me smile. We had to pass through a security checkpoint, and they thought they didn’t have to put their bags and coats through the baggage screening machine. Such naivete!
After meeting with Monsieur Lefebvre, we were so far behind schedule that the organizers decided we had to scrap lunch. We went straight to the Dutch embassy (AKA the ugliest building in Paris) where we had 3 presentations from various officials. First, we heard an overview of the embassy’s activities from a PR spokeswoman. Next we got a fairly boring and fairly long overview of French politics from a political attaché who got grouchy when we asked critical questions. Finally, there was a very interesting presentation on the problems of banlieues and violence from a woman who represents the Dutch Interior Ministry at the embassy. She studies the French approach to banlieues to see what Holland should copy and, of course, what Holland should avoid copying.
It had been a very hectic day. We were basically running around from 9 to 5 with no lunch break. I crashed at the hotel for 2 hours, and then we met up with a French guy named Laurent (the head of some sort of European youth political organization) for dinner in the Chatelet neighborhood (see point 2 above). While there, I decided it was time for my annual beer. That may have been my best decision of the entire trip. I suddenly felt very cheerful and no doubt left Laurent with the impression that I’m one of the friendliest people on the planet.
We went with him to the Sacre Coeur where there’s an excellent view of the Eiffel Tower. We were there exactly at midnight to see an amazing light show (which the Tower does for the first 5 minutes of every hour). That was a wonderful Parisian moment. Then Laurent said he’d take us to a bar in Montmartre. Walking at a rapid pace through the narrow, winding streets, 2 guys, another girl and I managed to loose the rest of the group. It took us over an hour to find them again. I actually thought it was awesome to be lost in Montmartre. I was with a group so it was safe, and also the atmosphere on the streets seemed quite good.
We finally met up with the rest at a very nice café. I was struck by how chilled out the French people hanging out there were. It didn’t feel like they were there to ‘go out.’ It was more like they viewed the café as their living room, just enjoying their drink and chatting with friends. We took the night bus back and it was exactly 4am (I checked my phone) when I pulled the covers over my head. Believe it or not, my roommates actually came back even later.
The next morning we met up with the Jeune Populaire at 11 to campaign. When I volunteered on a campaign in London, we were typically on the street by 8 and spent hours canvassing. In Paris, we were divided into groups of 5 and each got a thin stack of fliers and a map with a short route.
In general, the French people’s laid back attitude to campaigning surprised me. They had a group of 19 motivated and young volunteers at their disposal. We would have happily canvassed the entire city centre of Paris if they’d asked us to. They gave us such a thin stack of flyers; we were finished within 45 minutes. They kept saying things like, “The election results are going to be really bad for our party.” And I kept thinking, “Well, with that attitude...”
The campaigning Saturday morning was actually one of the most fun parts of the whole trip. My group and I totally goofed off. Most of the buildings on our route were apartment complexes. So we’d try to sneak up behind people who were coming or going and catch the door just before it closed so we could access all the mailboxes.
We’d been informed the French people would offer us a picnic after we campaigned. Somehow that never materialized. We went with them to a local Italian restaurant (see point 2 above) where we all paid our own way. I had a nice time talking with some of the French people for about an hour or so.
Then I was finally free to go out and enjoy the Paris I had loved so much 4 years earlier. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate (see point 1 above).
After I huddled by the Seine, the weather cleared up a bit and I made my way to the Champs Elysee. It was still very cold, and the only people out were miserable-looking tourists. One French guy did try to hit on me, so at least that tradition continues. In general, I could barely cross a street in Paris without getting hit on. I think my blond hair stands out.
Around midnight, it started raining again and I decided I should call it a night. Our program called for us to attend mass at Notre Dame the next morning at 9. So around 8, I dragged myself out of bed. There was no one in sight. Around 8:50 I finally ran into a member of my group who said some people were going to mass at 10. A group of 4 of us, 2 Protestants and 2 Catholics attended a beautiful Gregorian mass. The other protestant was reformed like me and had brought some typically Dutch reformed mints for during the sermon. Mints are supposed to last 20 minutes, but the sermon was only 5 minutes long.
After mass, we walked around in the cathedral and I got to see a statue of my beloved St Joan of Arc. That was cool. I also saw a statue of my not-so-beloved St. Therese of Lisieux. I had to read her autobiography for a book report at my old Catholic school. I had expressed my negative opinion of the book in no uncertain terms, only to discover she was my teacher's favorite saint. This was reflected in my grade.
We then went back to the hotel where we checked out. Then we went for lunch on the Champs Elysee. We sat out on a terrace, which was pretty fun despite the weather. I got a few great snaps of the Arc de Triomphe. We had a bit of a misadventure trying to find our bus. The bus driver couldn’t park in front of the hotel because the street was too narrow. So 19 people dragged many heavy suitcases around Paris for about half an hour in search of 1 bus driver. Oh well. We had a really fun bus ride home, discussing all our adventures and playing cards.
Tja, after 2 days reflection, the memories of huddling under that umbrella have faded. I’m increasingly glad I went on this trip. I got to talk to interesting people and hear new ideas in a completely different and very beautiful surrounding. I feel rejuvenated, and I’m excited about the future. Rain? Please. This is Paris. Of course, it’s the best of times.
