I am currently in Paris with my partner Laurie taking a short pause from the world of NLP and Coaching and making the time to share more adventures with my friend and life partner.
A few days ago we shared a whole afternoon exploring Notre Dame Cathedral and we were both impressed by the incredible works of art housed inside the Cathedral and the craftsmanship and artwork evident in the construction of Notre Dame herself.
Like the good and enthusiastic tourists we can be, we bough an electronic tour, that comprises of a recorded voice ( in English, which was good for us ) that arrives in what would pass for a child’s walkie-talkie that can be started and stopped at various points through the tour walk of ‘Our Lady in Paris’ as well as a little map, depicting points of interest.
So we each took our map, our walkie-talkie and set off. Taking our time to appreciate various statues, carvings, frescos, painting and sculptures. And we talked, held hands and kissed a great deal. Believe it or not Notre Dame is not just a romantic cathedral it was for me on that day filled with a very palpable love.
Towards the end of our three hour exploration and adventure, we stopped, talked and kissed. Some time into our kissing, we were interrupted by a seemingly agitated French woman. She was very smartly dressed and carrying some new shoes in a bag.
Her interruption was a verbal one. She hissed some very agitated French at us. Neither of us quite understanding we asked “êtes-vous OK?”, in my best French and again after another exchange which was both to fast and beyond my current French vocabulary to understand I asked, “parlez-vous anglais?”
Her reply was “show respect!! show respect!!” and then having shared, as she walked away we resumed and continued kissing.
Now, in mine and certainly Laurie’s model of the world, a cathedral IS a place of spirituality and love and that is exactly what we were doing, kissing, expressing our love to and for each other. Our French sister to me clearly has different values and world view.
Can we both be ‘right’? Yes of course!
Laurie has suggested if that ever happens again ( we do like to kiss ) we should either kiss the person or give them a hug!
Happy New Year 2010
Bonne Année 2010
