France reopens the cultural and gastronomic life of its cities

France regained a part of that longed for “normality”, with the reopen of bar, restaurant and cultural centers, to which is added the reduction of the curfew, now from nine at night, while the authorities called for prudence.

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The bars and restaurants last October, when territorial restrictions began to be applied in the face of the advance of the pandemic and on the 28th of that month a forced closure was imposed throughout the country.

Since then, the French had not been able to enjoy even a coffee on a terrace, one of those postcards typical of the “art of living French”.

To offer that image again, the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, let themselves be photographed on a terrace in the center of Paris with a coffee.

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“Terraces, museums, cinemas, theaters… Let’s rediscover what is part of our art of living. Within the respect of protection measures, “Macron wrote in redes, where he called for” prudence.”

Bad weather in most parts of the country did not help the terraces fill up, but citizens made the most of the rain truces.

Nous and sommes !
Terrasses, museums, cinémas, théâtres … Retrouvons ce qui fait notre art de vivre. Dans le respect des gestes barrières. pic.twitter.com/UXfOKur9D0

– Emmanuel Macron (@Emmanuel Macron) May 19, 2021

All terraces

“The customers are very happy to be back. And it’s true, because with closed bars and empty streets, Life in Paris was sad,” Sophie, owner of a restaurant, told Efe.

“I came walking from my apartment and all the terraces were full with people drinking coffee,” explained Vincent, a customer at a coffee shop. There are those who took the opportunity to look for work, like Paul, a 19-year-old student, who was leaving his resume in bars taking advantage of the fact that during the closing months many waiters left their positions and now, as he said, “there is a lot of demand”.

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In the south-east of the country with a sunnier day were the streets with more life, as in Montpellier, where the terraces of the center appeared full in the middle of the morning. There the mayor of the town, Michaël Delafosse, was portrayed with his deputies.

In the small coastal town of Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue (Normandy), Jean-François Le Grand explained to EFE that he went out with his wife to “celebrate the mistrust” to eat oysters from local farms and “galettes”, a type of crepes on a terrace.

The weather was very sunny there and other inhabitants or tourists also took advantage of the occasion. The terraces were crowded but not complete.

Cultural reopening

It was also a day of celebration for culture, as they reopened after almost seven months of closure museums, theaters and cinemas-all with limited capacity – before which queues were seen from mid-morning.

In Lyon, film buffs waited at the door of a central hall and in Paris, fifty people lined up in front of the François Mitterrand library cinema. In many cases, the films that did not have time to attract the public in October have returned to the Billboard but also the hits of the great awards, such as “Drunk”, “the Father” or “Adieu les cons”.

The reopening also took place in museums and cultural centers, which celebrate the return of the public.

The heads of museums such as the Louvre were so happy to be able to open that even its president, Jean-Luc Martinez, went to the entrance to welcome the first visitors.

In the morning, seeing La Gioconda was for some a pleasant task and quite lonely compared to the traditional saturation of tourists that makes the visit a complicated mission.

This phase of the reopening will last until June 9, when the curfew will pass at Eleven in the evening and will finally reopen gyms as well as the interior of cafes and restaurants. The curfew will remain until June 30.

“We can not be wrong, we have the firm intention of making this distrust a success”, said on the channel BFM TV the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, who defended the intention of the government to” not back down ” in its plans.

(Continue reading: Cartagena Mayor eases curfew from Thursday).

The vaccination campaign continues apace, with more than 20 million people receiving at least one dose (9.1 million receiving both), giving hope to the government.

The number of patients with covid-19 in France continued to fall on Tuesday when there were 22,058 hospitalized patients, 691 less than the day before, of which 4,015 were in ICU, 171 less in 24 hours. In addition, there were 17,210 confirmed positive infections, a figure that is far from the 30,000 and up to 40,000 cases per day of the third wave that France has just left behind.

EFE

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