The Best Parade We Never Saw

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Day 14
Happy Bastille Day! We started our celebration by eating the rest of our lovely scones. Delicious as leftovers. Then I put on my fancy Bastille Day shirt and we set out for the Champs-Elysees. The streets were strangely quite and empty – we were almost the only people out, it seemed. We took a wrong turn at a crossroads and took probably a 10-minute detour, but we got that worked out and finally got going in the right direction. As we neared Les Invalides, we began to see more and more people, all headed in the same direction as we.

Along with crowds of other people, we began to move toward the Champs-Elysees, but we never actually got there. Unfortunately, the Champs-Elysees is flanked by some parking lanes which are separated from the street by a curb. There were barriers along the curb behind which we were trapped and we could not cross, although apparently if we had gotten there early enough we might have been so privileged. So it was like watching Iris and Tucks while trapped on the sidewalk 3-deep along the uptown-bound side of the street and the crowd is already six-deep along the downtown side of the street which is the parade route. And there were no floats, only marching troops and mounted troops. We did get to see the tops of flags as they went by. The parade started with an air force fly-by. One of the first flyovers included 3 planes which released three jets each of red, white and blue smoke into the sky. Nifty! Unfortunately, there were thick stands of trees which line the street which make it difficult to see what was going on overhead.

We paused beside a phone booth and tried to decide what to do. Suddenly our immediate area became immensely popular, and we realized that it was raining, and the trees above us provided a really good canopy protecting us from the downpour. We pulled out our rain ponchos, which Roger thoughtfully packed, along with water, chocolates and cookies. We were, well, not quite as wet as those around us. We discussed the situation and decided that we would leave. Many of those along the actual parade route had apparently remembered to bring rain coats and umbrellas and they didn’t seem to be leaving in droves. Only those such as we along the periphery were giving up. As we left, we passed a sort of “de-staging” area, and we saw some of the troops march past us and get into their buses. The rain stopped for a while as we walked along toward home but started again when we were about halfway there. It stopped after five minutes and we were able to get home before the next downpour. Our jeans were sopping wet from the knees down, and Roger tore his poncho at the arm and his shirt was somewhat wet. So much for Bastille Day parades!

Here’s a shout-out to Ashley – welcome to my blog! Hope you enjoy my ramblings.

The end of Bastille Day was, for us, the success that the beginning was not. At around 9:30 we packed rain coats, water, a blanket and a plastic tablecloth into our bag and headed for the Champs de Mars, which stretches beneath and to the southeast of the Tour Eiffel. We arrived just before 10:00 and spread our piece of plastic on the ground among hundreds of other people who were doing much the same. For the next hour we sat and waited for the festivities to start as more and more people moved in. The first star did not come out until about 10:15, and about 10:30, the tower was lit with hundred of sparkly flashing white lights. Finally, about 11:00, the tower went dark and the fireworks started. Because of the crowd and my lack of height, I could only see from the first level of the tower upward, but Roger could see through the lowest arch as well. But that didn’t matter much – most of the fireworks rose higher than that first level, although a few did not. I have to say that the French really know how to do fireworks. There was a half-hour barrage of beautiful fireworks set to some wonderful French music piped out across the park. For one of the songs, many people sang along. One of the songs was an orchestral piece, and if it is not called “Firefly,” it should be. The fireworks accompanying it really looked like fireflies, drifting and darting lazily exactly like a lightening bug. At 11:30, the fireworks ended and the tower was relit. We moved with the rest of the crowd out of the park and towards home. Bedtime after midnight. Happy Bastille Day!