The Penn Stater Magazine

Dreaming of Europe

June 16, 2010 at 3:57 pm Tina Hay 2 comments

I.M. Pei's Louvre Pyramid, in the courtyard outside the Louvre in Paris

The other day I had a chance to meet Sophie de Schaepdrijver and Ronnie Hsia, the two Penn State history/religious studies faculty members who are hosting the Alumni Association’s trip to France and Germany next month. I’m going along on that trip to keep a blog, take photos, and maybe bring back a story for the magazine. And with the husband-and-wife team of Sophie and Ronnie helming the trip, I think we’re going to have a terrific experience.

We start with a few days in Paris, and although a lot of activities are already planned for us in the city through the Alumni Association and the travel company (Collette Vacations), Sophie and Ronnie have some ideas as well.

Ronnie is planning to take interested participants on a strolling tour of medieval Paris, while Sophie has offered to take a group to the city’s famous Père Lachaise cemetery. Given that I’m a fan of old cemeteries and of taking photos of funerary art, I actually had Père Lachaise on my wish list already, so I’m excited at the thought of going there with someone who knows a lot about it.

In a letter introducing herself to the Penn State travelers, Sophie wrote: “…you are welcome to accompany me to Père Lachaise cemetery on the outskirts of Paris—a vast park-like, hilly place, most atmospheric, where many celebrities are buried (Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison) and which was the site of fierce violence during the Commune uprising of 1871.”

The theatre in tiny Oberammergau, Germany, where the Passion Play is staged every 10 years.

Which, of course, made me go to Wikipedia to read up on the Commune uprising. And that’s what’s so appealing—I can already tell that Ronnie and Sophie are going to add a very cool dimension to the trip. They’ve suggested books for the travelers to read in advance, for example. They will be doing informal lectures on our bus rides. And they both seem to know a good bit about the sometimes-controversial Oberammergau Passion Play, which we’ll see on the last day of the trip. (The residents of the German village of Oberammergau have been putting on the Passion Play every 10 years since the 1600s.)

Ronnie, in his letter to the Penn State travelers, wrote: “I have taught courses in the religious history of Europe in the period of the Renaissance and Reformation. In addition to my interest in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic reform in the 16th and 17th centuries, I have written on the relationship between Jews and Christians; therefore, I am particularly excited to be attending with you the Oberammergau Passion Play, which I have read so much about, but have never seen.”

We leave in three weeks, and I’m looking forward to sending you updates and photos from what should be an amazing trip.

Tina Hay, editor

NEXT: Passion Play Passes Muster with Both Catholics and Jews

Entry filed under: Alumni Association, College of the Liberal Arts, Faculty research, Penn State faculty, The Penn Stater magazine. Tags: Alumni Association travel, I.M. Pei, Jim Morrison's grave, Oberammergau, Paris, Paris commune, Paris commune uprising, Passion play, Pere Lachaise, Ronnie Hsia, Sophie de Schaepdrijver.