Two hours before the official results of the French presidential elections, no Paris visitor could ignore that a historical political change was about to happen. Down Paris' Left Bank boulevards, throngs of flag-waving young and not-so-young people were flocking towards the Socialist headquarters near the National Assembly. Cyclists were ringing their bells, cars blowing their horns and François Hollande's sympathizers chanting "Victoire!" Nicolas Sarkozy had just canceled a planned celebration at Concorde and the place, where the guillotine once stood, was alarmingly quiet and deserted.