Rouge, Blanc, et Bleu

July has been a busy month, but we were lucky enough to get to celebrate not just 1, but 2, red, white, and blue days this month!

Be sure to check out the rest of July's pictures here.

Of course, no American can go without celebrating the 4th of July, no matter where they are in the world.  So, we rounded up some of our friends (Nick's coworkers and wives) for a little fun at the Chateau of Versailles.  It just so happened that Versailles was putting on, for the first time ever, a horse and pyrotechnics show the weekend of the 4th.  And when tickets popped up on Groupon, how could we resist?

So we went armed with our Groupons and some wine, not really knowing what to expect, and we were all pleasantly surprised!  After a little bit of a slow start of horses just dancing around, we soon saw acrobats on horses and some pretty impressive performances, all in period costumes!

And to top off the night...a pretty awesome fireworks spectacle that just almost, made me feel like I was in America on the 4th! :)  All in all a pretty great night, even if it did involved a 30-40 minutes jog/run to catch the last train back to Paris!

A mere 10 days later, we got to celebrate again on quatorze juillet (14th of July).  Better known to you all in the U.S. as Bastille day, but oh no, it is NOT called Bastille Day here in France!  The big celebration goes all weekend with balls, festivals, etc. but the main event is fireworks launched from behind the Eiffel Tower on the night of the 14th.  After hearing how crazy busy it would get, we staked out our spot maybe a bit too prematurely at 3pm, considering the sweltering sun.  But hey, we had great spots and had fun enjoying the day!

3pm

6pm

Finally at 11pm, the show got started.  Yes, that's right, only 8 hours after arriving. :)  The national anthem was sang....maybe I should learn this, huh?

And then....the fireworks!  I was expecting a pretty great show from what people had said about other years, but again, wow, just like Fete de la Musique, my expectations were exceeded!  It was probably one the of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen, and I loved how it had a theme.  There was music and speaking that went through the course of French history from monarchy to independence.  This seemed to somehow equate to lots of American music being played, but the crowd was loving it!  These pictures and videos really don't do justice to the awesomeness of this night.

Luckily for us, we only live a 10 minute walk from the park, so we didn't have to deal with any of the hoards of people finding a way home afterward since the nearby metros were shut down...that's the view from our window above!

Ahh....the red, white, and blue, or rouge, blanc, et bleu....however, you prefer to say it,
it's great to be an American (and a Frenchie). :)