Day 28 September 12, 2008
Welcome to PopeFest 2008. Pope Benedict XVI visited France for the first time in his pope-icy - you know what I mean, his ruling term or whatever - and picked heathen Paris and saintly Lourdes for his destinations. Now, if you know me even just a little, you know I'm not Catholic. I'm not Christian. I'm not religious. So on a personal level, the Pope means nothing to me. But the Pope occupies an important and prominent place in this world: He gets to ride in the PopeMobile.
Ok, so I know I could have my own YenMobile, but somehow, I don't think it'd cause the same sensation that the PopeMobile does. I acknowledge its greatness and I really wanted to see it with my own two eyes. So I braved the ridiculous crowds packed all along the parade route leading to Notre Dame and waited for the holy roller.
The Pope is getting out of the PopeMobile and heading into Notre Dame. It had turned down the bridge onto Ile de la Cite just a few meters in front of what the video showed. The atmosphere was a bit crazy. There was chanting (like at a concert or soccer match), lots of flags waved about and people screaming for the Pope. Or was that screaming for the PopeMobile... I know what I was yelling my head off for.
Anyway, that was... interesting. Earlier in the day, I did a special French in Action tour. If you've ever taken French in school, you've probably watched this educational series. I've seen it several times because I'm a fool for French and so I needed to visit some of the landmarks in the show. All went well except that Professor Capretz lied! There's no 18 Rue de Vaugirard where the Belleau family are supposed to live. There's a Place in between 20 and 16. I know he probably did that on purpose so freaks like me don't go intruding on other people's privacy.
Also, I saw wallabies. Australian wallabies at the Jardin des Plantes and the PopeMobile in one day: Top that, Day 29.