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| We could hear a thousand voices cheering during the game, but the people were all indoors, watching TV screens, with windows open. |
Like everyone else, we had our windows open during the game. We could hear what seemed like a crowd of a thousand people cheering every time the French team scored a point or did something else wonderful. Yet when I stepped out on the balcony, there was almost nobody in the street. The voices all came from the open windows of apartments and cafés all around. We were cheering, too, with windows open, adding to the exciting din.
After the game was done, joyful people flowed out of those apartments and cafés, onto the streets. They filled up the streets leading to the Champ de Mars -- the unofficial field of celebration. The giant TV screens on the Champ were still going -- showing images of the overjoyed coach, team members, and President Macron. It was raining in Moscow, evidently. The President and everyone else there was soaking wet, but they didn't care. We were all hot and dry in Paris, but we didn't care either.
Automobiles could barely move on these avenues, because the people took over. Most drivers didn't even try. Those who did had their windows open, were screaming and cheering, waving French flags, honking horns incessantly, and moving very slowly through the throngs of pedestrians. Nutty passengers were hanging out of the car windows and tailgates, or riding on top of cars.
People sang, "Oooh les championnes! Oooh les championnes! Oooh les championnes! Oooh les championnes!" over and over. They even sang the Marseillaise, which is hard to do.
Tom and I joined the crowd walking up the rue du Commerce to the beginning of the Champ de Mars, even though we usually do not do crowds. You can see from my photos that we did hang back from the dense parts of the crowd.
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| The edge of the crowd on the Champ de Mars. You can see one of the giant TV screens here, and the haze is from blue-white-red smoke bombs. |
While people were still marching up to the Champ, the people on the Champ who'd watched the entire game there on the giant screens were now leaving, intent on finding a brasserie or at least a bottle of wine. Crowds were starting to move in both directions.
The crowds were civil. We saw one person down, on the pavement, across the Avenue de la Motte Picquet from us. She was an elderly lady, and she was receiving care from about ten passers-by. Eventually, we saw the ambulance come. The crowds parted to let the ambulance move ahead. In this weather, my guess is that the lady was dehydrated.
Judging by the trash I saw in the streets during my walk this morning, I'd say that every big avenue in the city was taken over by crowds of soccer fans yesterday evening and probably through much of the night. The "little green men" (and women) who collect the trash and clean the streets were out in full force early today. They have an enormous job to do.
I walked up the Avenue Bosquet, across the river, and up the Avenue Georges V to the American Cathedral (Episcopal church). The return route was the Avenue Rapp, the little rue Général Camou, the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, a few small streets near the Champ de Mars, the Champ once again, the Village Suisse, the Avenue de la Motte Picquet and the rue du Commerce.
I saw only two places where piles of trash had been set on fire by celebrants. The fires had been small and had been extinguished quickly. These little fires were nothing like the burning dumpsters and sofas that we used to see near campus after an Ohio State University football victory. Parisians are much more civilized.
The rue du Commerce and all the avenues had been used heavily by celebrants last night, but the side streets were calm and relatively clean. The Champ de Mars was amazingly clean and peaceful.
French soccer fans can be wildly enthusiastic, but they have it under control. Allez les bleus!
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