What virus? Parisians pack cafes as city gets its magic back

PARIS (AP) — Paris is rediscovering its joie de vivre, as cafes and restaurants reopen for the first time since the fast-spreading coronavirus forced them to close their doors on March 14.

Many customers seemed to shrug off masks and social distancing as they streamed back to their neighborhood bistros for a morning espresso or a three-course lunch Monday, free to resume their lifestyles by a surprise announcement from the French president himself.

“We will rediscover ... the art of living, our taste for freedom,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation Sunday night, citing progress in fighting the virus. “We will rediscover France.”

After two months of being totally shut down as part of France’s strict virus lockdown measures, restaurants outside the Paris region opened earlier this month. Since June 2, Paris cafes have been allowed to serve people outside but not open their doors. Before Macron's speech, the full reopening wasn’t expected until later this month.

At the Café Des Anges in the heart of the Bastille neighborhood of Paris, customers seemed happy to reconnect and talked about the need to remain careful — yet almost no one wore a mask. France has the world's fifth-highest recorded toll from the virus, at 29,410 dead.

“It’s like a renaissance, but with caution,” said customer Marie-Elisabeth Vilaine.

The reopening Monday caught many restaurant owners off guard — just like the abrupt closure three months ago, when the prime minister announced at 8 p.m. on a Saturday that all the country’s restaurants had to shut down by midnight.

Paris seemed especially depressing as restaurants, the lifeblood of the city, stood shuttered, chairs stacked against the windows, menus gathering dust.

After three months of...