Wednesday, May 16, 2012

New President


That's it, as of today our new President, François Hollande, is in charge. The whole "coronation" took place today which involves a trip to the Elysée to switch places with the former President, then a car ride between the Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe, then a few handshakes with the crowd (we call that a "crowd bath"!) and a few other traditional stuff. As you can see, yesterday's sun was gone today and obviously the French protocol does not include the use of an umbrella... We have an expression in French that goes "mouiller sa chemise", which means "to put in some hard work". I think it could not be more appropriate, providing the amount of work that awaits for him!

14 comments:

  1. So his plane gets hit by lightening and he gets soaked during coronation. For the sake of France, I hope his luck changes very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At least he himself didn't get hit by lightning—especially while wearing a wet shirt! Great shot, Eric. I can't tell whether he looks determined or terrified.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No man looks good in the rain. Only a pretty woman looks good in a wet chemise.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Years ahead will be interesting to say the least!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice and quick! It seems the transfer of power in France goes a lot quicker than here. I heard that they turned back the plane he was on that was headed to Germany because it was hit by lighting. Might be an omen as to what is waiting for him! HA

    ReplyDelete
  6. Protocol be damned! Someone should have given that man an umbrella! Seems undignified and disrespectful to let M le President get drenched like that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Now I hope he didn't leave his hat on the bed...bad luck! Carla and Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa must have gotten a team of Italian and Hungarian Gitanes to put the Evil Eye on him...he had better get a Priest to exorcise the Elysee.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. (messed up the link in first comment so had to delete)

    Crowd bath and rain bath in one day makes for quite a "coronation." The picture is wonderful....I think his expression shows that the gravitas of the situation has hit him along with the raindrops.

    Thought you might be interested in how NBC Nightly News covered on first ladies in this scenario on Tuesday evening,
    here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you Lydia ; your link was very interesting.
    I love the photo you chose Eric. Very funny. Silly me!
    'The amount of work that awaits him'? ahem I'm not so sure ... though I do hope he'll be brave... but we'll see... Sorry, as I'm expressing a personal opinion, which is not the right place here :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. A damp start. Left home without his raincoat. Perhaps he forgot to check the forecasts. Let's hope he is a bit more prepared politically or Frau Merkel may well hang him out to dry.

    Anyway, good luck to him. Something tells me that it's going to be a quite different Presidency.

    ReplyDelete
  12. No umbrella? It's cold in Paris, too.

    ReplyDelete