Les Bleus Lost the World Cup.. But the Aftermath on Champ Elysees was Awesome Anyway

We started out the evening by having a great meal up on Montmartre! Sara liked the wine... a lot. :)



Earlier that day we went down to Champ Elysees to shop and enjoy the day. Paige and Cam got this cool soccer ball that Paige and I are playing with.



Paige really likes it. :)



Allez Les Bleus!

After Dinner, Sara and I went back down to Champ Elysees to people watch and get involved in all the World Cup festivities. The first half of the game went really quickly! The crowd thought I was press and hammed it up for the camera since I was using the 200mm f2.0. At one point I even had three Paris Press photographers crowded around me drooling over it, asking me (in French) what it was and how long it'd been available. It was fun and made Sara and I laugh!



After the game ended and France lost, there was hardly any noise. People were shocked to be sure. They slowly turned from the TV sets that were setup in windows along the street and started walking towards the Arc de Triomphe. It wasn't long though until people broke out the flares and started setting off fire crackers in the streets. It became a mob seen rather quickly and Sara was a bit scared. The police presence was HUGE. They were all geared up in their riot gear, including body armor, shields, helmets and everything. At some point a few fights broke out around the arc and the police charged them to break it up! That was exciting as all the bystanders ran the opposite direction!

It was wild!