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Le jour de la Bastille
Left me a little traumatized, but was overall a wonderful experience. The 14th of July here is the day the Bastille was stormed in 1789, starting the Revolution, & is pretty much the equivalent of 4th of July for us. Kelly & I, in our very American enthusiasm, decided we had to show some patriotism to fit in. Could you imagine being in public on the 4th of July without red, white & blue?
Well, we had quite an experience with those shirts. First it was just people smiling at us, then they were asking to take photos of us, then they were asking to take photos with us, & finally, at the end of the night, walking back through Châtelet, there were the men yelling "You love Paris, I love YOU!" French charm at it's height, I'm sure. Apparently the whole patriotism thing isn't big in France, because there is a bad connotation associated with being a nationalist. So, we stood out like 2 [very pretty] sore thumbs.
The one part that did resemble the 4th of July was the amazing fireworks!! We made it over to the Tour Eiffel, but couldn't get all the way onto Champ de Mars, so just watched from an adjacent road. Each series of fireworks was perfectly timed to accompanying music - including the theme song from Amélie, a Coldplay song, & some more modern ones as well! I thought that was something very special and purely French savoir-faire, & it was really the most beautiful fireworks show I've ever seen.
The Tour Eiffel was also sparkling behind us for most of the show, but they turned it off later on so the fireworks could be more visible. Like any big sporting event, we tried to rush out of the crowd before it was over, but the police had closed off most of the metros, so we had to walk around for over an hour to find a nearby one that was open. Most of the police had been shipped in from suburbs of Paris, and had no idea how to give us directions, so it was a little wandering, a little stress, & a lot of chaotic people! Our feet were definitely hating us the next day.
Well, we had quite an experience with those shirts. First it was just people smiling at us, then they were asking to take photos of us, then they were asking to take photos with us, & finally, at the end of the night, walking back through Châtelet, there were the men yelling "You love Paris, I love YOU!" French charm at it's height, I'm sure. Apparently the whole patriotism thing isn't big in France, because there is a bad connotation associated with being a nationalist. So, we stood out like 2 [very pretty] sore thumbs.
The one part that did resemble the 4th of July was the amazing fireworks!! We made it over to the Tour Eiffel, but couldn't get all the way onto Champ de Mars, so just watched from an adjacent road. Each series of fireworks was perfectly timed to accompanying music - including the theme song from Amélie, a Coldplay song, & some more modern ones as well! I thought that was something very special and purely French savoir-faire, & it was really the most beautiful fireworks show I've ever seen.
The Tour Eiffel was also sparkling behind us for most of the show, but they turned it off later on so the fireworks could be more visible. Like any big sporting event, we tried to rush out of the crowd before it was over, but the police had closed off most of the metros, so we had to walk around for over an hour to find a nearby one that was open. Most of the police had been shipped in from suburbs of Paris, and had no idea how to give us directions, so it was a little wandering, a little stress, & a lot of chaotic people! Our feet were definitely hating us the next day.
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