55, bd. JOURDAN

So I promised I’d say some more about Inauguration night.
Essentially it was a blast. We weren’t sure at first where to go — one of the Irish bars we were aiming for apparently didn’t have very much room, or a television, so we wound up heading back to the most American place I’ve yet found in Paris. I have a feeling that everyone there was American, even the wait-staff. The place was already packed when we came in around 4:30, a good hour and a half before the start of the festivities. People were live-blogging, while others were just all too happy to find a menu that they recognized — featuring favorites like burgers, milkshakes, or the Yest We Can Omelett.

As a line began to from outside, the excitement inside was palpable. Everyone was turned towards the tiny television live-casting CNN and various audible reactions could be heard to the sight of Dick Cheney or Joe Biden — of course when Bush came on everyone just sort of groaned collectively. But the sight of Obama really got everyone going!

A couple seated next to us recounted the feelings they felt when Kennedy first took office, and others likewise felt a new sense of hope and jubilation. We celebrated with a bottle of wine and watched the rest of the ceremony, laughing along with everyone at certain parts (yellow stay mellow!) and the kind of mentality that could only be seen as purely American.

As the night wound down the place remained packed. A French news crew had been shooting outside, my friend had been filmed for a blog, and every other person had a camera on them. There truly was a sense that this was a historic moment, and even here, in this little enclave in the heart of Paris - we were connected to it all.

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