Paris on Bastille Day

I can now say that I have stood on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Bastille Day, when the combined might of the French armed forces parade down the famous cobblestoned, tree lined boulevard. It would be nice to also be able to say that I have seen the combined might of the French armed forces parade down the famous cobblestoned, tree lined boulevard. But sadly, all I saw were the backs of the people in front of me, along with the occasional glimpse of a coloured soldier’s hat or raised gleaming sword. The kids saw a little more, perched as they were on our shoulders. We did manage to see the impressive air force formation fly past (since that was, needless to say, above us). But anything at ground level was obscured by the throngs. And then it rained. Any boy did it rain. We hadn’t seen much rain for several weeks. But Bastille Day morning in Paris made up for it. It bucketed down. This presented us with a dilemma. We could hold our ground and take advantage of the fact that some in front of us would seek shelter (allowing us to sneak forward), or we could high tail it back to the nearest Metro and escape back home. The first option would result in us getting soaked to the skin; the second might mean that we missed some of the spectacle. We gallantly chose the first option....but only for a short period of time (rain got the better of us). Then we gave up and trudged our way back through the puddles to the Metro.


Fortunately the weather improved later in the day so we made it across to the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower (along with millions of others!) to watch the traditional fireworks display. With dusk not falling until 11pm (and hence the show not starting until then) it made for a late night out – in fact we didn’t make it back to the house until 1am (after spending more than an hour on the underground due to the crowds). Needless to say the kids were a bit jaded. But what a great thing to be able to say that we’ve sat in front of the Eiffel Tower watching the Bastille Day fireworks.


Yesterday we checked out one of my favourite parts of Paris, the Ile de Cite (which is really where Paris began) and the Ile St Louis. We toured Notra Dame and the streets of the old town, then took a boat ride down the Seine (something we’ve never done before) and saw many of the “highlights” before chilling out with an icecream in the Jardin de Luxembourg.