La Manife(te)station

I finally saw la manifestation (demonstration) up close today for the first time. It was big, it was loud, and it was in the way. Thousands of people were marching through the streets carrying flags and signs, chanting and putting their stickers on everything, and the crowd stretched probably a mile (it snaked through streets and across the tram tracks so that all of le centre-ville was blocked). However, this demonstration looked more like a parade to me (un fete is a party en francais, so this post title is a little combination of demonstration/party, which is exactly what it felt like. Clever, huh?). There was a drumline that stopped in the middle of the masses for a music break and everyone gathered (some even danced) while they filled the streets with beats. There were also big vans snailing along in the middle of the crowd sporting bundles of blue balloons and blasting music. Saturdays are already extra busy in le centre-ville and the giant crowd covered the streets and spilled over onto the sidewalks. I had to walk home because the tram could not pass through the moving wall of bodies that zig-zagged the tracks. It was exciting and lively and made me really miss Fiesta in San Antonio.

And my birthday yesterday was perfect hanging out with my friends and my brother and his friends! Paul took me to Mac-do (McDonalds) and I ate my first American (french) cheeseburger. Like everything else in France, it was smaller than a burger made in the States (even the Big Mac had a smaller patty-diameter) but it was fairly tasty (but still obviously not an American burger). You can choose between frites (not french frites, just frites) and potato wedges to go with your burger, and one soda (no refils, bien sur). Coca (cola) in France is much sweeter than in the States so one cup gives you all the sugar rush you need. There is also a white sauce here that is the French equivalent of ketchup (not the taste, but it has the same eat-with-everything status here that ketchup has in the States). People still use ketchup, but this special sauce is very popular with frites and kebabs and burgers.