riot!

I looked out the window today and saw tons and tons of people out in our main intersection. At first they all started running down a side street, and then we saw them coming back. A crowd was also just pouring out of the metro stop in front of our apartment. Of course Marc had to hurry out with his camera. (Who knew he was an adrenaline junkie? Apparently, he should have been a photojournalist.)

He got the story by talking to people out on the street. A local store of some kind had planned a publicity stunt of giving out money. People heard about it on tv and so, of course, there was a run on it.

The police showed up and told the crowd that the free money thing would not be happening. Then there were a lot of frustrated people who just started looking around for mischief to make -- you could see it in their faces. Fortunately, the businesses on our street had foreseen this and had closed up quickly.

The grocery store didn't have time to gather in the produce that they sell outside, though, and people soon started throwing it. They didn't stop until everything was gone, and then they picked up the stuff from the ground and threw that.

At one point, we saw the woman who is often the outdoor cashier run over and bravely try to fend off the looters, but they started pelting her with fruit and she beat a hasty retreat.

Max said, "it's a citrus riot!" and it surely was.

People were hiding in phone booths, bus shelters, running down to the metro, and a bunch of them were trapped in cafés with all the doors shut.

This is shaky-cam, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what it was like.

At the beginning, it looked like they were just having fun. Riotous, destructive fun, but fun nonetheless -- which in some ways is even more disturbing than angry violence, isn't it? But then things took a turn for the worse. Some people saw us taking pictures and they started throwing fruit at us! Max got hit by a clementine, another one bounced into our geraniums, and then an apple came flying through the window and exploded everywhere. That's when Eva totally lost it. And there were a couple of guys down below making threatening gestures to us. We closed the windows after that!

I saw someone beneath our windows get hit with a melon and go down. Then a man and a woman hurriedly trying to get their baby down into the metro before they got hit.

They flipped a car over and stripped it. At this point, the riot had been going on for at least half an hour and we were wondering why in the world the police weren't there. Our best guess was that things like this don't usually happen in this area of Paris, so they likely weren't prepared with enough officers in the area.

They finally arrived, in full riot gear, after the car tipping. I was amazed by how long it took the crowd to disperse. They had a standoff for awhile with the police, and then some other cops with orange armbands and cans of tear gas started chasing people away, with a few well-timed sprays.

We saw a reporter beneath our window taping a segment for the news, and there were plenty of photographers on hand. One even asked if he could come up to our apartment for the bird's-eye view!

It was a totally crazy day here in the usually quiet 7th arrondissement.

**Check out Marc's post for his man-on-the-street perspective!**

aquarium #2

On Tuesday, we needed an outing. Max had been stuck at home for a full week, and he was dying to get out -- somewhere, anywhere. He still didn't feel up to being outside much, so we decided to go see another aquarium we had read about. (Did I ever post about our other aquarium visit? I can't remember.)

We had a 45-minute metro ride to get there, but because we didn't have to change trains, no one cared. It was way out at the edge of the Bois de Vincennes.

A totally quiet area, so nice for a change (although Marc would take issue with that, he loves the hustle and bustle).

I loved the maps they had, showing the natural homes of the different types of marine life.

We all loved this color-coordinated tank! All pink and purple.

Seriously. This fish looks like it has rabbit teeth! The kids are in bed now, so I can't ask them, but I think I remember it as being some kind of puffer-fish. We read that it uses those teeth to crack open mussel shells. But, come on! I have never seen fish teeth like that. I was mesmerized in a train-wreck kind of way, just could not take my eyes off of it. It's embarrassing how long I looked at that fish.

I finally tore myself away to look at some more attractive fish.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is my favorite fish ever. Black and white, with polka dots, and a little yellow for punch? In all the right places, too. So cute. Come on, it has yellow lips, people! It was also the fastest fish I have ever seen -- darting hither and yon, almost as if it had body issues and didn't want its picture taken. I must have taken 15 to get one that wasn't completely blurry.

Totally cool sea urchin. The other ones we saw were back in the corners of the tanks, barely visible, but this cool guy was attached to the front glass! Thanks for the great view, buddy.

Lucas pointed out that all of the fish in this tank were looking out at the same thing, and there were no patrons anywhere around. Wanna know what they were looking at?

This film of crocodiles carrying their newly-hatched young in their mouths to the water. I am not even joking. We were dying laughing at the fish watching a movie.

In all, it wasn't the best aquarium we have ever seen. But it only cost 9 euros for all 4 of us to get in, and the kids had a great time. We stood and watched a giant display of turtles for ages. We even saw several kinds of sea life we had never seen before. (But I didn't start taking pictures until I saw Creepy McRabbit Fish. That forced me to get out my camera, as I could not possibly leave that undocumented.)

Everyone was a little tired on the long ride home. But, as I said, no changing so it was just a long relaxing ride.

When we got home, Lucas made a fort out of the couch. Eva, not to be outdone, made a fort cave out of all of the dining room chairs and this lovely duvet cover from IKEA circa 1999. It just so happens she created her cave right in front of the tv, thereby obscuring anyone's view but her own. And now she wants to re-create the cave every day. Luckily, Lucas just wanted to read inside his fort.

high excitement

Last night, we spent a lot of time looking out the windows. Three fire trucks pulled up across the street. We couldn't see what was happening at first, and then we could see (and smell) that there was a fire in an apartment across the street.

I've never seen firefighters in action before -- running, in full gear; unwinding the hoses; climbing the ladders. Black smoke was pouring out of a window. The brand new grocery store below was apparently affected as well.

We weren't the only spectators. The boys didn't tear themselves away to go to bed until after midnight. I went to bed around 1:00, but couldn't sleep until 3:30 (probably a combination of being wired and taking Excedrin for a headache). Oh, and it was noisy when they retracted the ladder around 2:30.

I couldn't stop wondering whose apartment it was, what the damage was. Were they home? Did they have to evacuate late at night? Were all the neighbors scared the fire would spread to their homes, too? What did they lose? Can you imagine the smell? I had recurrent childhood nightmares about fire, and I just felt sick for those people.

This morning, the grocery store didn't open, and there is a pile of burned rubbish out by the curb. I've watched dozens of people walk by and wonder why it is closed.