Paris (AFP)

Tears, roses, apples and rain ... Several thousand people came Sunday to pay a last tribute to Jacques Chirac, some posted since dawn in front of the gates of Invalides where the coffin of the former head of State was exposed.

"This is the first emblematic figure I have known in France". Luca Gautier would have missed for nothing in the world this occasion of a final goodbye to this "great man, charismatic, popular, human".

The 19-year-old arrived at 6am Cognac in front of the blue gates of the paved courtyard of the Invalides. "I wrote him letters during his lifetime, and there's one ready, I'm sure he'll have it," he said, pressing his hand against the back of his jacket.

"Very moved," Luca says shed a tear at the announcement of his death, "the same tear as when the procession passed earlier, she took the time to roll."

At the La Source brewery next to the golden dome monument, you can see the queue. "It's a crazy thing this crowd, I did not expect that there is a piece of Chirac in the heart of each French," Joel Barde, a waiter.

In the courtyard of Invalides, the atmosphere is solemn despite dozens of journalists gathered in a corner.

The route was marked by ribbons to lead visitors to the church whose entrance is framed by two French flags where the coffin is exposed.

The grave voice of the former president resonates between the four walls of the courtyard, where speakers broadcast his old speeches, interspersed with the suite No. 1 Bach cello.

In the booklet given at the entrance to the visitors, quotations from Jacques Chirac, excerpts of poetry he liked and lessons texts describing the man and his days ...

Philippe Yanez has already said goodbye to the former president several times. First street of Tournon, the last home of Jacques Chirac, then the Elysee where he wrote a word "at two in the morning."

"I had to be there, in 95 I was on my bike, everyone was following him, and at a traffic light, he lowered his window and shook my hand (...) the hearse, it reminded me of 95, the escort, the motorcycles, but not the hand ... "declares the wet eyes the sexagenarian of Chatenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine).

Further in the crowd, 48-year-old Virginie Ferrera came with an apple, not without humor. "I liked that gentleman," she smiles.

- "Of this temper, there is more" -

At 14:00, the first visitors enter the enclosure and immortalize the moment with their mobile phone, while the rest of the crowd is patient under the gloomy sky, some with a flower in their hand, others an apple in their pocket or with a sign "Farewell President, we miss you already".

Among the people who gather for a few seconds in front of the casket, few children, a majority of gray heads, several people in a wheelchair and even a man lying on his stretcher.

At the exit of the subway, Ibrahima Diawafa has not yet taken place in the long queue of thousands of people who winds around the block for hundreds of meters.

A flower in his hand, he explains "to have grown under his septennat and his quinquennium". "Thanks to him, my family, my six brothers and my Malian parents, we could have a home in Villepinte, spend our first Christmas together," says the 28-year-old, who calls himself "leftist".

"It's a person who rocked 53 years of my life" says Isabelle Houdebert, a teacher from Versailles, arrived at 9am. "I admired his humanity, his simplicity, his culture, his love of life, his stature as head of state.This temper, there is more.I will write him a note to thank him for what he did".

© 2019 AFP