Did I ever tell the story of how we stumbled upon a yet another protest in Paris?
No, not that protest.
This was a much smaller demonstration; we saw them, on our way someplace, just when we realized we’d walked too far and were probably lost.
Alas this story doesn’t have a happy ending, it’s not particularly interesting either, but I’ll tell it anyway.

It was our sixth day in Paris, the day we chose to visit Le Bon Marché.
I was especially looking forward to visiting La Grande Epicerie, I’d practised saying it just like the French.
It was supposed to be a thirty minute walk, but after we’d passed the Latin Quarter, we got seduced by the glitz of Boulevard Saint-Germain, missed our turn and kept going.
There are so many shops, galleries and restaurants on that street, oh and the lovely Saint-Germain-des-Pres church.

We saw the protestors a little further down, just as we were about to turn back.

Initially we were just going to observe them from a distance, but then this guy we met from Miami, he’s all brave and adventurous and he inspired us.
They were a small group, mostly men, mostly French-Africans, protesting the plight of undocumented workers.

We went over, talked, walked, listened, took pictures and empathised.

In July 2009 a group of undocumented immigrants moved into an abandoned building on Rue Baudelique in Paris.
With their formed coalition, they hope to move from out of the shadows, and bring the plight of the undocumented immigrant to light.
They want to work towards finding a solution towards legalization.
They assert that they have jobs, contribute to society and have lived in France for a long time, some for up to twenty years.
They want a chance to make their case, a venue where they’d be heard.

The crowd moved on several minutes later, and we parted ways, but we were still lost.
We felt a little ridiculous asking our new ‘friends’ for directions to Le Bon Marché, so we didn’t.
Instead, we asked the cops who’d been standing there all the time, looking menacing, watching the protest.
They, of course, were no help; they were actually curt and a little mean.

Here’s a link to the newsletter in the picture, if anyone’s interested in reading it (I don’t think there’s an English version).

There are times when getting lost frustrates me, but this wasn’t one of those times.