My french professor is particularly keen on giving us foreigners a good grounding in what is french this term, and as such decided that we should all do an exposé. So my partner and I hmmm-ed and hawed for a while and ended up choosing "La Grand Mosquée de Paris".
All in all it is quite a comlexe and certainly worthy of a longer visit than we gave it, however weekends are preciouse and somehow I don't think I've quite earned the time to go to the hammam, although I would dearly love to!
In any case, we visited the mosque and the tea room.
The mosque was beautiful.
The minaret can be seen from a distance, maybe not as far as the eiffle tower, but it is certainly an impressive symbol.
I kind of eavesdropped on a guided tour that happened to be going through the main courtyard at the same time as we were, and he mentioned the three balls on top of the minaret. Apparently there are a few ideas on what they represent, but he couldn't give a definitive reason. One of the suggestions was that they represented the 3... I maybe sould have payed more attention to that part. But do note the green in the mosaiques as green is very important to the muslam religion. Most notably it represents vegetation life and water, to a group, of which the vast majority, for a significant period of time lived in the desert.
This is above the door from the main courtyard to the patio. Every surface has an ornate decoration that is made even more impressive by the stark contrast between it and the plain white walls that surrounds it.
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the tea room and restaurant on this visit, as my appetite kind of took control once I crossed the threshold, and the flury of the crowd made me forget my initial intent to observe. The crowd mentality took hold and it was eat or be eaten... or rather in this case, push or starve.
Balzac once wrote something along the lines of "Parisian society will welcome you with open arms, but if you aren't there, you won't be missed." Which can be said for the Paris of the XIXth century and also of today's. The city is definitely taking its tole on my psyche, and Balzac's words repeat in my head daily. It is beautiful and vibrant and very stylish however everything is a competition, and if you don't step up, you will be forgotten in the wings.
Makes for a very tiring lifestyle.
