Armistice Day

I only had one class last week because all of our Wednesday classes were cancelled in honor of Armistice Day! I took advantage of that by going to the Armistice Day celebrations at the Arc de Triomphe, which were, in a word, bizarre. President Sarkozy took this opportunity to try to demonstrate the strength of Franco-German relations. Thus, the ceremonies were presided over by both Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel. This would have been unimaginable even a few years ago (I think it makes a huge difference that there are no longer any living veterans of WWI), but still struck me as very strange. There were French and German troops ringing the Arc, and perhaps I underestimate the power of new-found EU-unity, but I would think that that would make the French remember previous times that German troops have marched down the Champs Elysees - and not in such a friendly manner. As Angela Merkel helped Sarkozy light the flame on the tomb of the unknown soldier under the Arc, I couldn't help but think of the fact that that French soldier was probably killed by a German soldier. And odd time and way to celebrate Franco-German unity.

Another strange part of the ceremony for me was how quiet it was. People rarely cheered, most didn't sing the national anthem out loud. I suppose this was a fairly somber occasion, but it still was eerily quiet at times.

Here's the New York Times' coverage of the event: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/world/europe/12france.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sarkozy%20armistice&st=cse

And here are a few of my pictures from the ceremony:

On a somewhat related topic, the EU will be picking its first-ever president next Thursday and the current Prime Minister of Belgium (Herman Van Rompuy) appears to be the front-runner, having the endorsement of Sarkozy and Merkel. I figure this is a great time to be living in a house full of Belgians :)