Bordeaux and Palmiers

A lot of people come to Paris to see the churches. That’s fair: we have a lot of them here, and they are gorgeous. However, with all of the people who come to look at Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame, I’ve never once had a tourist ask me how to get to the Mosque of Paris.

It’s probably a good thing: up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea where it was.

Then I found out that it was a few blocks away from my house. My master lack of directional sense strikes again.

I’ve always had a sort of tug to churches. While my relationship with the Church (big C–the one in Rome) has always been a little bit on-again off-again, the actual church buildings have always felt so comforting to me. I don’t have the same intrinsic relationship to mosques. I feel as though someone just plopped the big building down on a random street corner with no regard for all of the buildings around it that look so stereotypically Paris–so exactly the same.

It reminds me of the changes that Paris has undergone in recent years. Parisian culture has moved away from what it once was, and to actually live in Paris forces the acceptance of immigrant groups that are having more and more of an effect on the city.

Like with this mosque, Parisians sometimes try to ignore this changing aspect of their city. Maybe it’s because I too am an outsider that I can accept Paris for what it now is.

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