This morning was one of the mornings our local street market is operating so as soon as our jet lagged eyes opened we strolled up to Boulevard Raspail to buy some provisions. Along the way we came across this team of workers breaking for lunch. (Can you tell how late we slept?) you can also tell that this is not the old Paris; rather than a bottle of rouge they are drinking a can of soda.
No plans for the day, which feels good. Yesterday we went to the Champs Élysées to see an outdoor photo exhibit on World War I, a subject much in the air on this 100th anniversary. The exhibit was interesting more as a piece of propaganda than as history, concentrating quite a bit on photos of soldiers from all the French colonies of the time, apparently happy to be fighting in the trenches for their colonial masters, and providing patriotic text. There was a photo of the young Capitaine Charles de Gaulle, noting his five attempts to escape after having been taken prisoner by the Germans. Of Marechal Petain, the hero of Verdun, there was no mention. Apparently his collaboration in the next war outweighed the victories of the first.
A stop for lunch at Rosa Bonheur de Seine, on a barge moored along the newly pedestrianized Berges de Seine, was pleasant and we met a young friend for coffee later in the pretty garden café at the center of the Petit Palais.
We had dinner with friends we hadn't seen in a while at one of our new favorite restaurants, Terroir Parisien in the 5th arrondissement, lingering until we were the last to leave. A walk home along the boulevard and so to bed.
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