An interesting day.

Tuesday morning, our doorbell rang...quelle surprise! It was Uwe showing us the information about the photographic exhibition and asking if we would go with them. "Let's meet at 3 O'clock." We took the walk to the 10th arrondissement Mairie where the exhibit was being shown. It was the work of Erich Lessing, the occasion of the publication of his book of photographs from the 1956 Hugarian revolution. Here's a picture of Chuck and Uwe on the grand steps of the Mairie. We walked down Chateau d'eau street, suddenly we were aware of a police presence, shutting off the street to traffic behind us, then in front of us were lots of police and gendarmes. The whole of the Place de la Republique was filled with police vehicles and personnel. Someone said there was a manifestation (demonstration) but we only heard distant shouting. No one seems to be concerned and the gendarmes and police weren't concerned with us, the pedestrians, who kept walking, and in our case, taking pictures. We went into a cafe to rest and see what would happen. Nothing happened. The police lined up right by the cafe window, got dismissed, took off their riot gear, smiled at us, and got into their tiny police cars. The gendarmes did the same. Done! We finished then continued our walk back to the Cite. It was, by the way, a very hot day. No jackets were needed. We are so lucky to have such nice weather. Oh, another thing, we stopped to get a baguette. Chuck and Uwe went into the bakery. Chuck came out with TWO baguettes. He forgot to hold up his thumb and say "oon." He held up his first finger, with his thumb out, which French people read as TWO! All four of us munched on one of the baguettes on the rest of our journey back, so we only had to deal with one baguette at dinner time. What a laugh. We really got a kick out of that.