A MARKET REPLACES AN ARMY

THIS SPACE MEANT FOR ASSEMBLING TROOPS IS NOW A 

NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET  

There's room for double-parked trucks, parked cars on the other side of the street, ordinary traffic...

The church of Notre-Dame de la Gare, 13th

And stands, of down-home French and the variety that immigrants bring:

       

"Marry me! There'll be free cheese !"

"We're Auvergnats* for three generations!"

*Auvergne, a rural region in central France

Grass roots politics, on the left in this southeastern outskirt.

Plunge into "real Paris" by watching people leave church after mass, in a neighborhood that used to be terrifying.

Then discover this market

where design meant for violence

brings joie de vivre. 

 

End of this chapter.

*     *     *

Next chapter,

VI.

The changes turn out to be useless:

La Commune