Had a pleasant day busing around Minneapolis—downtown to exercise, then to a big “15U” (for age 15 and under) volleyball match at Bottineau Park in Nordeast, from which I walked to Emily’s Lebanese Deli for the #1 combo plate with Turkish coffee, then back downtown on the 11 and home on the orange line bus.
I took the adjoining pic while waiting for the 11 at 2nd Street and 7th Avenue, a block from Emily’s, because it amused me. Daily mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays … “daily” must be another of those words that’s surrendered its meaning. And why French?
Since I was waiting on the 3:50, which was late, I watched people arriving for Saint Boniface’s 4:00 Saturday mass. Maybe about three dozen before the bus came, and only two were plainly younger than I am (66). There are fourteen rather steep-looking steps leading to an imposing front entrance, beneath some statuary art—Saint Boniface, I assume, flanked by angels—facing Second Street, and around the córner, on 7th, a side door atop three low-rise steps. Lots of octogenarians shuffling past the front, around the corner, up the three easy steps and in the side door.
Some of the more ambitious oldsters opted for the hard climb, and several of these did that thing where you always lead with the same leg before pulling the other one up even, now both feet are on the same step, and repeat thirteen times. I felt like yelling across the street, “Side door on 7th!” But maybe that entrance is to the bottom of some narrow indoor steps.
I'll probably never understand why they say a mass in French, but I've formed a theory about what happened to three of the "daily masses." By the look of things, within a few years they’ll cancel Saturday mass, too.
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