Paris trip

June 1996

At 20:30 one Friday evening I was surfing the net and discovered that Paris Gay Pride was on at 13:00 the next day. I took this as a challenge :-)
Rainbow flag Cuties Caged Cuties Cutie Cutie Angel costume Girls! Devil costume Maori costume Chinese costume

Saturday

A 4am start meant I could catch the 07:19 Eurostar to Paris, check into a hotel, get cleaned up and be on the march by 13:00 raring to go. This I managed! However, the next thing to do was wait for the march to start... two and a half hours later we finally got moving in my part of the parade. Until then, we had been dancing away to the sound of some seriously big speakers loaded on the Red Scorpion float. Several of the night-clubs and cafes in Paris had floats there, as did the occasional mainstream company like Gini lemonade and Virgin Cola.

There were lots of cute guys on the parade, and many girls too. One noticeable float had four topless muscular young men dancing in cages on the roof. The standard of costumes on display was very high.

More text to follow when I get some free time!

Waiter race Paris Skyline

Sunday

Paris was enjoying more than just Gay Pride day that weekend. The Festival of Lights involved a few fireworks that night (which I did not see, being elsewhere at the time), and the next day the race of the 'Garcons du cafe' took place. This involves waiters running in full waiter costume, aprons bow-ties and all, carrying a tray with a bottle and three glasses on it. Without breaking them. For five miles (8 kilometres).

The winner finished it in 30 minutes 36 seconds, which is quite respectable compared to a full athletic race without all the impediments!

I finished off my stay with an ascent of Notre Dame cathedral, which provided a nice view of the surrounding city.


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Copyright © 1996 Carl Muller ( carlmuller@hotmail.com). All Rights Reserved.