From where we sit in our tiny apartment it is impossible not to notice the comings and goings of the two nearest businesses, a "coiffure mixte" and a "restaurante Chinois." We are sure that the same type of activity goes on in similar businesses the world over, but we have a better view of these two than we do of any others. Taking first the hairdressing business we know this is owned by a French/Chinese woman who is married with two small sons. She arrives to open her salon at about 8:00 AM after a half an hour train trip from her home in the suburb of Bercy. She is busy all day and rarely leaves the premises before 8:00 PM (10:00 PM on Thursdays). Yesterday, a public holiday, she was there cleaning and doing maintenance work. We have also observed that her husband attends the premises on the weekend to clean the windows inside and out. She is closed on Sunday and Monday for a well earned rest.
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| Our local hairdresser |
Directly across the street from the hair dresser is the Chinese Restaurant which is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. It also offers take-aways all day. It is run by a middle-aged French/Chinese man and his wife with the occasional help from their daughter. M. Yang leaves the building every morning and goes to the markets either on foot or in his car returning later with sacks of rice, fresh vegetables and other produce which he requires for his business. Later he takes buckets of water to wash the pavements outside his restaurant so he can place a couple of tables on the footpath. Through the windows we can see the Mme. Yang cleans the inside of the restaurant, sets the tables and serves the diners. They appear to close for several hours in the afternoon (possibly for a siesta), reopening at 6:00 PM and stay open as long as there is a demand for their meals.
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| Chez Yang |
Virginia says that both of these are similar in terms of the work patterns to the business in which she was raised.
This afternoon we went to Trocadero, where until 1937 the old Palais du Trocadéro stood. It was demolished and replaced by the Palais de Chaillot which features two wings which form a wide arc with an esplanade providing an open view to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. It is in the Palais de Chaillot that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. This event is now commemorated by a stone, and the esplanade is known as the esplanade des droits de l'homme ("esplanade of human rights"). The Palais de Chaillot was also the initial headquarters of NATO, while the "Palais de l'OTAN" (now Université Paris Dauphine) was being built.
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| Eiffel Tower seen from the Esplanade |
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| One Wing of the Palais de Chaillot |
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| One wing of the Palais de Chaillot |
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| Two wings of the Palais de Chaillot looking across the esplanade to the Eiffel Tower |
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