The mellowest storming of the Bastille ever. Possibly because we have had about 6 solid weeks of guests. And, possibly because our current guests have had about 3 solid weeks of being tourists, here and in London. Only one of our crowd (our 12 year old visitor) decides to go with some family friends to see the Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Élysées in person. This involves a metro ride in which not only are they all crushed inside the train and getting out of the train, but also on the platform of the metro station. To add insult to injury, they are locked inside the metro station for a while, since the crowds outside are so dense there's no room for more. Somehow this seems like a major sweatshop fire hazard that would cause lawsuits in the States, but we're in France, so if they don't like it, well...Off With Their Heads.
The rest of us stay home and see some of the parade on the TV, play games, do arts and crafts projects, go shopping (there are a surprising number of stores open, even though it's a national holiday), tour the neighborhood, run around at a playground, and watch the aerial part of the parade fly almost straight overhead. My friend Daniela and I are both used to the Blue Angels flying over San Francisco, but we both agree that seeing them fly over Paris has a vaguely unsettling World War II feeling to it. We may be the only ones making this connection, though; mostly it's just exciting.
In honor of Bastille Day, each arrondissement holds a neighborhood Firemen's Ball, but they don't start till 9pm and, we are told, they are more like outdoor nightclubs. We are simply too tired to head out for that level of festivities, especially with the kids in tow. Instead, as the kids and our friends head off to sleep, Anthony and I sneak out to walk down the Seine, to Pont Neuf, which is our nearest/best view of the Eiffel Tower, and join a few hundred thousand of our best friends to see the fireworks there. The sun doesn't set till about 10:30, so they don't go off till 10:45pm-11:15pm. We bring the big camera which takes better photos, despite the fact that it doesn't have the official "Eiffel Tower at Night" automatic setting.
We are home by midnight, and while I can't say we've taken Bastille Day by storm, we do enjoy relaxing and hanging out with good friends for the day.
The rest of us stay home and see some of the parade on the TV, play games, do arts and crafts projects, go shopping (there are a surprising number of stores open, even though it's a national holiday), tour the neighborhood, run around at a playground, and watch the aerial part of the parade fly almost straight overhead. My friend Daniela and I are both used to the Blue Angels flying over San Francisco, but we both agree that seeing them fly over Paris has a vaguely unsettling World War II feeling to it. We may be the only ones making this connection, though; mostly it's just exciting.
We celebrate our last night together with a simple dinner together accompagnied by champagne, a French patisserie platter that would make a lactose intolerant person cry, and a course of baguette and French cheese -- one of which I serve blue, white, and red style in honor of the day. [The Stars and Strips may be red, white, and blue, but the tricolor français is always blue, blanc, et rouge.]
In honor of Bastille Day, each arrondissement holds a neighborhood Firemen's Ball, but they don't start till 9pm and, we are told, they are more like outdoor nightclubs. We are simply too tired to head out for that level of festivities, especially with the kids in tow. Instead, as the kids and our friends head off to sleep, Anthony and I sneak out to walk down the Seine, to Pont Neuf, which is our nearest/best view of the Eiffel Tower, and join a few hundred thousand of our best friends to see the fireworks there. The sun doesn't set till about 10:30, so they don't go off till 10:45pm-11:15pm. We bring the big camera which takes better photos, despite the fact that it doesn't have the official "Eiffel Tower at Night" automatic setting.
We are home by midnight, and while I can't say we've taken Bastille Day by storm, we do enjoy relaxing and hanging out with good friends for the day.
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