Happy Bastille Day
I used to think of Bastille Day as the French equivalent of the 4th of July. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 represents the beginning of the French Revolution of course - Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.
I've only been in Paris twice on Bastille Day. I usually don't go to France in the summer, when it's crowded, but I was working, once with a huge group, and another time waiting for a group to arrive.
So I happened to have the 14th of July to myself, and I ambled down to the Champs-Elysées to see the parade. I managed to glimpse Sarkozy's head as he rode by, and realized why the smart people brought their own ladders.
Unlike the local parades I remember from my childhood - scouts and fire engines and baton twirlers and horses - the parade in Paris is a military parade, including a dramatic midair parade of fighter planes (three trailing blue, white and red smoke) and a long défilé of soldiers, tanks, guns and other vehicles. Most of which I couldn't see, since I didn't have a ladder with me.
So I wandered around on the side streets and discovered the realshow. Here were soldiers lining up with their vehicles waiting
to join the parade, while families wandered around looking,
chatting and handing the kids up for a ride on the tank. All that
vast show of military might was, for the moment, just another
monumental backdrop in Paris.
I expect this Bastille Day is much thesame, though things are more somber in Paris after the recent death of six young French soldiers in Afghanistan. No one ever
wants to think about what all those weapons and tanks are for.
At the end of the day, there will be fireworks over the Seine, always
a fabulous show. The best views are from the bridges or a boat on the river - failing that, the Place d'Iéna's not bad.
