Real live picture of Hollande taken seconds before we shook hands.
Just the main entrance to le Palais de l'Elysée. No big deal.
Grand ballroom where the State hosts large events.
François's desk. We're on a first name basis now.
This weekend we participated in les Journées du Patrimoine, which loosely translates to "French heritage weekend." Unfortunately, there really isn't any way to liken this to anything in America, but basically for two days, a select number of museums, châteaus, and government buildings are open to the public. For free.
As we perused the list of options we decided to visit le Palais de l'Elysée (the President's house), undaunted by tales of the 5 hour line we would encounter. This experience is comprable to touring the White House, except this is the only weekend of the year the house is open to the public.
Confident we got there early enough to only stand in line for two hours (scoff), boy were we wrong. We hit the four hour mark and could see the entrance to the gates when the man in front of us muttered, "C'est le President!" and the rest is history. Needless to say, getting to meet François Hollande as well as his partner, Valérie Trierweiler was one of the absolute highlights of our trip thus far.
Oh yeah, and his house was insanely beautiful.
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