Did That Happen? 2.0

Saturday afternoon my housemate and I ventured out of our apartment in a fit of restlessness and youthful optimism. Bordeaux did not disappoint. After walking to a new yarn store on Rue Judaïque, we somehow witnessed these two oddities:

1. Forty people (+) praying outside of Cathédrale St. André, knees to pavement. Singing some religious song in Latin. Young. Old. Women. Men. Les efants. Umbrellas and shopping bags in hand/on asphalt. Their songs were only interrupted by the technologically amplified shouting of the protesters and the ten policemen separating the two groups. Protest signs may or may not have included "GARDEZ VOS PRIÈRES LOIN DE NOS OVAIRES" : "KEEP YOUR PRAYERS AWAY FROM OUR OVARIES." Except in French it rhymes. From what L. and I could understand, this was about abortion. Neither of us had a camera, which was a silly mistake, but the experience was pretty unforgettable. Things started turning a little ugly and I definitely saw the police whip out some spray bottles of liquid, though whether they were filled with pepper-spray or red wine vinegar, I couldn't tell you. Despite our great curiosity, our foreign paranoia got the better of us and off we went. Here's a link to an article about what happened: http://aquitaine.novopress.info/?p=233

2. We weren't walking for long before we found ourselves amidst another great French cultural moment, though as luck would have it, a much happier and more relaxed one.

TWELVE PIECE BRASS BAND PLAYING MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER. Umm. Awesome. They even started doing the dance. Other tunes included but were not limited to "I Like to Move It, Move It" though this had been cunningly changed to "I Like to Mozart, Mozart" and featured a Mozart trumpet solo, and "Quizas," as well as a Shakira jam. Bordeaux always manages to surprise me with such delicious and random moments of unadulterated wackiness. Sure, there are a lot of old men drunkenly peeing on the sides of buildings, and cranky bus drivers, and impolite tram-descents, but I have to say: an unexpected group of a dozen 20-somethings playing tubas, trumpets, saxophones, and drums more than makes up for it.

The pirate man with the leather elf shoes singing soprano on Rue Ste. Catherine last week was also pretty cool.

Keep it up, Bordeaux. We like to Mozart, Mozart.