Bastille 2011: Vive le France
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2011
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Trip End
Aug 01, 2011
I am in Avignon for the weekend, but an entry about that will come later when my trip here has ended. Thursday I did experience one of the most amazing celebrations I could imagine. Bastille serves as France's equivalent of our Independence Day as it marks the day that the Bastille prison was stormed and also the beginning of the French Revolution. I love history, so I was super excited when I found out I was going to be spending Bastille Day in Paris. France presents their pride in their country well as they celebrate for two days straight both the 14th (actual Bastille Day) and the day after. Actually two days and three nights as every fire station in the city holds a "Pompier Ball" (a mini night club set up in every fire station of the city and held by the firefighters of the city. Another note that goes with that, the French know how to party; most clubs do not open until one in the morning and close at six in the morning and the same went for the "Pompier Ball". Unfortunately I am too boring to partake in these celebrations and I prefer not to party, so I did not attend one of these balls, but I did hear they were very entertaining. My Bastille started out by attending the Military parade held on the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Just the setting in itself was epic, so I was expecting an amazing parade. It definitely did not disappoint and was easily the best parade I have ever been to and was worth waking up early to go to :) I never thought I would be closer to the French president before being close to the American president, but it happened as President Nicolas Sarkozy was on a car at the parade and was 30 feet away from me. The parade consisted of over 6,000 of their military, police officers, fire fighters, and EMT's participation and also a fly over of the country's military aircraft which was beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing the patriotism behind everyone and could definitely see it on everyone's face how proud they were to be French. Night fell and my roommates and I made our way to the Trocadero to experience the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower; too bad the rest of the city had the same idea. Never have I seen so many people at a place at the same time. Unless you experience these fireworks in person, the emotion and joy felt with them cannot be understood. They were seriously the most beautiful and amazing fireworks show I have ever seen. They weren't only at the Eiffel Tower, but also 45 minutes long and united a whole city for this time. Not much can make Paris more magical than it already is, yet these fireworks were able to. Going back to the amount of people there, it seemed like the whole city of Paris was out that night. Madness ensued as the Metro had to be regulated in order to keep it running smoothly, so people were literally hanging out of it and were pushed up against the glass windows. Another sight that unless you were there you will never understand. Parisians, it seems keep things civilized for the most part and are able to figure out a way to solve any problem. Being able to celebrate Bastille Day in Paris definitely was an experience that I will never forget and demonstrated to me how important it is to be proud of your country and respect it :)
