8/5/2013
Today St. Jean de Losne celebrated "le Jour de Libération" , the anniversary of 8th May 1945 when Charles de Gaulle announced the end of WWII in Paris.
This morning we met 3 Aussies from Adelaide, Peter, Ray & Tina whose big new boat is also moored at H2O.
They were as keen as us to watch the local celebration of liberation day. So we found ourselves standing together opposite the Hotel de Ville while church bells rang off and a crowd of officials and onlookers gathered. There was drum rolls, flag-raising and a quaint confusion of who was to go first. Then the assembly of marching band, local fire brigade, the Mayor known by his blue, white and red sash and 6 flag-bearing officials wearing military berets set off towards the soldiers memorial on the right bank of the Saône. We admired the group of 7-8 year olds singing the Marseillaise and the french brevity in holding speeches. The ceremony ended abruptly when one of the fire brigade's only 2 women collapsed and fell straight onto the street. A passer-by took on to direct the trafic around the woman and her concerned colleagues while 2 security officers looked on. (She was ok)
After all the excitement, Peter suggested a drink at the nearby bar/restaurant in the "good ANZAC tradition".
We accepted the invitation and had an interesting talk about selling businesses, boating and aviation.
The rest of the day was spent with menial tasks such as laundry, coffee and an "Oma & Opa nap".
(See Austin attracting the very young french females).