Vive la France! Bastille Day in Paris

Military Parade of Hats.
Background photo - hats of the fireman. Do those really fit the head?

The traditional festivities of Bastille Day are very similar to the 4th of July – parades, picnics and fireworks.

We awoke to the sounds of helicopters buzzing around the place. The helicopters buzzed around all day long like a pesty fly. On our way to the parade our street had many large military vehicles posted around including tanks. The locals had told us they close the streets for the parade and all I thought was well – of course it’s a parade. They were not kidding. Having left 2 hours before the start of the parade you would think this would be enough time to scope out a good spot. However, the streets we had planned to use to get to the parade were all closed! There was only one spot where they left open to funnel everybody into the parade area though you could leave anyway you wanted. It took us almost two hours to get there. This is a military parade and I might best describe it as the parade of blue and hats as there is very little entertainment except for a few military bands. You really get a sense of what it might be like to have troops marching through the streets. The parade started with Nicolas Sarkozy being whisked down the street. The crowd among us had been joking and comparing his size to the past president’s as he is very petite man they joked they might miss him. He is very petite. Shortly thereafter was the air show! I think this was the best part. The first planes had streamers of red, white and blue smoke as they whizzed down the parade path. I don’t know much about the planes but I do enjoy watching them always. Some were HUGE and some were itty bitty. I had seen them a few days before whizzing around Paris practicing. The parade was led by the Ecole Polytechnique which is a very prestigious school in Paris. They school has military uniforms and swords to match. I would think it would be so much fun to march down the Champs-Elysee and through the Arc de Triompe! After this the crowd joked, “Is this still the Polytechnique?” as the other military uniforms were various shades of blue and funny hats. It was kind of game of who had the best hat! It was very crowded and everyone was a great time. Some folks brought step stools. In some ways our journey to the parade was more interesting than the parade itself. We observed 100 diplomatic cars all over the place and if you had a special badge you could cross the bridge we had originally planned to cross. At one point they stopped traffic so buses of military people could get to the parade. We walked right pass the guys with horses and listened to the warm up band.

In afternoon we picnicked in our local park – Parc Montsouris which had tanks. Everybody was out picnicking and playing games. At the end of the day we went to see the fireworks. Unfortunately the spot we chose on a bridge had trees that masked some of the fireworks but we did see quite a bit, heard the opera music and was able to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle! I really really liked that as I have never seen it sparkle. I do wonder why classical music is often chosen for fireworks. The firework shows was as good as Chicago’s in my opinion. Our spot did happen to be close to the metro so we were able to hop on very quickly and even get a seat! This was truly a blessing as it had been long day! You Tube has some great videos of it.
Photo college - Military car on our street near our house, The Tour de Eiffel sparkling and lit up, and a guy in suit to view the fireworks. I think this is normal attire for some....