Thursday, November 11, 2010

Day off


Guess what? Today is a holiday in France. We're celebrating the end of the first world war, and more precisely the armistice between the allies and Germany in 1918 (see more on good old Wikipedia if you're interested). Now that we're all united within the EU, It seems so odd to me that there were once wars between France and other European countries like Germany or England. Anyway the good news is that even though there are now no veterans left, we're still going to enjoy a nice day off! Time for me to catch up on my work though ;-) BTW, I took this photo in the 20th arrondissement, rue Fontarabie.

13 comments:

  1. You're seven hours ahead, so tomorrow is our Veterans Day. Also a holiday for many, but not all peopole. Public sector organizations mostly are closed, but private companies usually stay open. I think this is a bit odd, especially since we are more conservative politically: one would think that conservatives, who strongly support the military and capitalism, would honor the military veterans by closing for the day. Or is this simply a conflict of money over emotion?

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  2. Every week a holiday in France. That's living! :)
    V

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  3. In the US there is one surviving World War I Veteran....

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  4. Cool photo -- looks Greek to me. LOL As Jeff said, Veterans Day is being celebrated in the US. And my daughter is a Veteran from the recent wars in the middle-east. Hats off to the Veterans! (My father included -- from WWII.)

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  5. The little girl who lived next door when i was a kid was born on 11/11. She always said her birthday was "November 11, Armistice Day." Enjoy your day off, Eric! And how big is this drawing?

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  6. This is a very interesting picture Eric. I like it alot.
    Enjoy your day off.

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  7. hooray, happy holiday in France, have a lovely one

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  8. No matter what takes place, just to have a day off

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  9. There was at least one surviving veteran left in the U.K. in 2009. Will have to check for an update. -- Elizabeth

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  10. Happy Veteran's Day! Enjoy your day off. And a large thank you to all the veterans who have sacrificed much to protect and serve our various countries, especially my father, who missed most of my mother's pregnancy, as well as the first 3 months of my life while in Vietnam. Merci, papa!

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  11. You have a day off for this? Wow, we don't. We do mark it of course and always do the 2 minutes' silence. There are many ceremonies and laying of wreaths around the country today and on Sunday when we do another 2 mins' - but no day off! ;D

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  12. @Lynn. Well from what I read, it seems that with the new political change that you recently had in the UK, you are not likely to have a day off for veterans day anytime soon ;-)

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  13. Anonymous... there are 2 surviving UK WWI Vets; Florence Green, who lives in the UK & a Claude Choules, who now lives in Australia. They're each 109 years old.

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