Bastille Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANCE!  Today is Bastille Day, France's independence day, as well as the bi-centennial year of the sapeurs-pompiers - the French firemen.  The day began with a military parade down the Champs Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, the very place the guillotine stood during the revolution of 1789.  For anydog who is interested (there were some dogs in the parade) here is a link that has some photos and description of the event:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/8637246/Bastille-Day-2011-military-parade-in-Paris.html

The Bastille Day festivities actually began on the evening of the 13th, with the fire stations in all the arrondissements holding open house and hosting a firemen's ball.  Music and drinks were provided free of charge to everyone who "behaved."

In the afternoon we went out to see if the shops were open, but most were closed for the holiday so we went to lunch.  Mom says she's going to stuff herself for the next week (we're going home next Wednesday) because she won't get to have French food again for a long time.  We stopped at two bakeries so she could compare the croissants.  Problem is, croissants have a shelf life of about two hours, so by late afternoon, neither one was very flaky.  On the way back we saw this restaurant, called Le Chien Qui Fume (The Dog Who Smokes) which I thought was offensive, but not surprising, as almost everybody here does.  The neon light of the smoking dog wasn't lit, but if you look carefully, you can see him.















We tried going out at night to see if there was a good place to view the fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower that wasn't too far away from the apartment.  The best place would have been in the Jardin du Luxembourg, but it closes at dusk.  We walked all around the Jardin, about a half an hour walk, but we couldn't get an open view, so we ended up coming home and watching reruns of the festivities on tv.  There were concerts in the afternoon at the Champs de Mars and Trocadero, on either side of the Eiffel Tower, and elbow-to-elbow crowds - a human swarm not for the faint-hearted or anyone over 40.  So ends Independence Day in France, 2011.