Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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6 AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM When ever I see a line, I want to get into it. Warren Buffett said, "If you ever walk by a bank and there is a long line of people in front of it, get in it." Who am I to dispute Warren Buffett? We were in Paris walking past Notre Dame cathedral, which had a long line of people waiting to get in. Heeding Warren's advice, we got in line. Security was tight. Metal detectors and wanding before you could get in. My gendarme actually checked under my hat. Nothing there as usual. Notre Dame was full of worshipers. We sat one seat away from the center aisle. It was the Requiem Mass for Father Jaques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest who had been murdered in Normandy by ISIS homicidal morons. Notre Dame's organ music and the choir were astounding. We watched as a Prelate with an incense burner came down the aisle next to us. Shortly thereafter some really stern looking gentlemen wearing coats and ties walked by. They were the French Secret Service. Then came the current President of France, Francois Hollande. Right behind him was the former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. They were close enough I could have reached out and touched the President of France. Good sense and the French Secret Service allowed me to keep my hands to myself. The service was entirely in French so I didn't understand anything said. I could understand the music. It was sad. The French are understandably concerned about ISIS. It is a real threat to them. We were on the Metro coming back from a long day and heard a commotion on the train. In New York, someone yelling on a subway would not attract much attention. In Paris, it does. A wave of people came running through the car away from the yelling. This was unsettling. The Metro was moving and jam packed with no place to go. Finally the Metro reached its next stop. Like the recent incident in Crabtree Valley Mall, people started running off the Metro. We ran with them. It was like being in a school of fish that suddenly turns as one entity. We got up the stairs into the sunny Paris afternoon and the Metro went on. Never heard if anything had happened. Could have just been a nut. Or maybe not. Moral of the story: If you hear yelling on the Metro get off at the next stop. Walk back to your hotel. On a much lighter note, I kept a running account of things I learned each day about traveling. I share these tips with you, gentle reader. Always eat lunch to avoid a fun melt down. Never walk your wife too far. Just because you like walking long distances does not mean other people feel the same way. There are more tall French women than American women on a percentage basis. I am not sure why I noticed this factoid, but it is true. The Louvre remains huge. Monet's house at Giverny has no screens on the windows. His dining room is bright yellow and his kitchen is blue. You can buy chocolate bread from a French grocery store for a dandy and inexpensive hotel room French breakfast. Rue de Opera is a major street in Paris that I could never find on my map. I suspect it exists in a black hole for cartographers beyond time and space even though I have walked upon it. Paris operates on a leisurely schedule. Starbucks does not open there until 7:30 a.m. The streets are pretty empty before 8 a.m. There are no basketball goals in Paris. Did not see a single one. My wife, Lani, has never met a stranger on a train. We went to see where Vincent Van Gogh is buried in Auvers. Next to his grave is the grave of an artist named Corneille Beverloo. He looks just like me. Handsome devil. Corneille's picture is on his grave stone. Odd feeling seeing where my French doppleganger is buried. French ATMs are intimidating at first but are actually very easy to use. Paris streets are quite clean. Water bubbles out of the curbs to wash away the cares of the day each morning. Guys in green suits are up every morning sweeping and running large cleaning trucks. It is much more efficient to look in a book to determine what day a museum is open than to take the Metro and learn it is closed when you get there. Most tourists in Paris are Asian. McDonald's on the Champs Elysees has a guy checking bags for bombs. The Arts & Metres Metro stop looks like the top of a copper top battery. Very shiny. French bus schedules are tricky to decipher. A lone piece of luggage in the Metro takes on a sinister caste. Marcel Duchamp's R. Mutt's Da Da ready made urinal artwork is in the French Museum of Modern Art. This proves Andy Warhol's statement that "Art is what I can get away with." French Lessons by PITT DICKEY OPINION PITT DICKEY. Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Pitt Dickey 2016 Best of Fayetteville Special Edition • Coming Sept. 14, 2016 Advertise & promote your business all year long effectively and affordably! UP & COMING WEEKLY'S Advertise, market and promote your business in the most popular, most read edition of the year! RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY! For more information, rates and deadlines call (910) 484-6200 UP & COM I NG W EEKLY 'S Inside Update Inside UPDATE INSIDE Focus On Fayetteville Cumberland Matters Apple Crate .com FAYETTEVILLE'S LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER VOLUME 19 ISSUE 18 VOLUME 19 ISSUE 18 APRIL 30 - MAY 6, 2014 Friends of Children Golf Tournament Season Opens at Givens Performing Arts Center SEPTEMBER 17-23 2014 VOLUME 19 ISSUE 38 VOLUME 19 ISSUE 38 Best of the Best SEPTEMBER 16 - 22, 2015 VOLUME 20 ISSUE 37 1 9 9 6 - 2 0 1 5 YEARS 20 .com FAYETTEVILLE'S LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER FAYETTEVILLE'S LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER UP & COM ING W EEKLY 'S And The Winner Is... The Musings of Pitt Dickey Man of La Mancha at CFRT Givens Performing Arts Center Cirque Montage