Beyond the Basics

Chapter 32

It was surprising how much time could pass simply by staring at church windows. But in our defense they were beautiful and a lot of that time was spent with trying to find good spots for taking a photo that would capture the beauty appropriately. It was harder than it sounded but Brian was having fun with his stereo camera in the church, but I was enjoying watching him.

"Sorry about taking so long," he apologised eventually when he returned to me.

"It's okay," I assured him with a smile. "I hope the photos end up the way you want them to be. Do you want to see if we can get onto the towers somewhere?"

"Yes," he agreed and gently placed his hand on my back. "I think I saw a sign over there, but it was in French so I'm not entirely sure."

My eyes followed where his finger was pointing but I didn't see anything sign-like, so I simply shrugged. "We can go have a look at it, I'll see if I can understand something of it. Otherwise I'm sure there's an official somewhere we can ask."

"That sounds like a good plan to me, yes. It was over there, careful, some of these people are very rude."

He was so sweet. "I know, I noticed that too. Just smile and ignore them." There really were many people, so in order to avoid losing each other again, Brian reached for my hand in the same moment I reached for his. That had been a spur of the moment idea but the relief when I noticed he seemed to have the same thought, I wasn't the only one who thought that way. Hand in hand we meandered through the crowd until we had reached the sign that Brian had spotted.

"This is the one I saw," Brian repeated and pointed to it again.

Furrowing my eyebrows I tried to understand the French words written on the sign - it was actually more like a blackboard but that was just me being extra accurate. "Uhm... this isn't anything about the towers, it's about the services held here. Sorry," I told him apologetically. "But I'm sure we can find something somewhere. Where are the towers? There? Let's go have a look at the bottom of them, there has to be an entrance somewhere."

"That's good thinking, yes. They have a lot of services here...," he mumbled before he followed me to where the bottoms of the towers were. He was still holding my hand which was necessary but also very sweet. I certainly wasn't complaining.

Brian stopped and pulled me to the side gently. "Tabitha, here, that guy looks like he works here... would you ask him?"

"Yeah... I think I can do that." I didn't necessarily want to, but I couldn't let him down. Especially because I was the one that had suggested this tower thing so I did feel responsible. "Cross your fingers I'll remember the correct words." Brian chuckled a little and nodded, but didn't say anything when he followed me to where that official looking guy stood. "Uh, pardonnez-moi, monsieur? Est-ce que vous travaillez içi?"

He looked at me and Brian for a moment before he nodded. "Oui. Est-ce que je peux vous aider?"

I sighed relieved and nodded. He seemed to have understood me and replied in a way that made sense to me. "Oui, merci. Nous voudrons aller... uhm... en haut des tours de la cathedrale. Est-ce que c'est possible? Et .. uh.. comment?"

"Oui, c'est possible, et c'est içi. Vous devez payer içi, et l'escalier est là-bas," he said, pointing to a door. "Il y a trois-cent soixante et cinq marches.".