Protest Paris

As I said, this time we did all the touristy things and we only had 11 hours to do them in- this is Robyn at The Trocadero which has a really good view of the Eiffel Tower.

I have a knack for visiting when what I want to see is closed for 'renovation'. I have a long list of missed sights. It's the third time I've been to Paris while the Picasso Museum has been shut - it still is! Meanwhile the gardens of the Trocadero have become a building site.

Also shut to us was the City of Paris Municipal Modern Art gallery I'd been looking forward to - no bags allowed in and no cloakroom provided, so no Dufy for me.

But we did get this;

We saw plenty of these;

And we had a look at these;

Robyn wanted to see the Arc de Triomph and I was happy to visit the Champs Elysee where I saw the finish of Le Tour de France in 1994, remembering how steep the slope is and how hard it would be to cycle it at 35 miles per hour! 

There were plenty of tourists on the Champs, here is the queue at Luis Vuitton;

While this is the Renault showroom;

But I felt a lot more at home at the Climate Change rally we met at the Trocadero;

 

 

There were lots of inventive placards and some lovely variations on the theme of bicycles including child and dog carriers in all shapes and sizes; 

 

 

 



There were also some great posters left over from previous demonstrations like this Anti-racist poster celebrating over 80 years of struggles;

The climate change folk were gentle souls - lots of kids and dogs but afterwards we were treated to a real display of the brutality of the C.R.S. - the French riot police.

The CRS who had been covering the demonstration were really unhappy they had been unable to assault anyone.

So they drove round and round the streets long after the demonstraters had gone home, in a long convoy of some 20 vehicles. Their headlights were on, their sirens beeping and their horns blowing. All they wanted was an excuse to stop and assault anyone attached to the demonstration.

Was that it for my 11 hours? No, not quite but the rest is for tomorrow.

Neil harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:   neilwithpromisestokeep@hotmail.co.uk

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