Quatorze Juillet 2014

Remember how I said Fete de la Musique was my favorite day in Paris?  Well look out, Fete!  I think I have a new favorite day weekend: Quatorze Juillet.  Commonly referred to as Bastille Day in the US, it is French independence day.  Although I loved last year's celebration, this one was even better!

We started the celebrations off by attending a fireman's ball. {In French, it's Le Bal des Pompiers, so it's not as easy to make jokes about!}  We didn't do this last year, and after this experience, I'm so sad we didn't!  Many of the firehouses around the Paris area open up from 9pm-4am for a night of fun on the 13th and 14th of July, including dancing, champagne, friends, and of course firemen.  It's a fundraiser for the fire department, but let's be real...I think it's more about having fun and a way for fire fighters to meet single girls.  Regardless, it was a blast.  We arrived to a firehouse in the 8th around midnight after watching the World Cup final with plans to stay for a few hours.  But, with so much fun to be had, how could we leave early?  Lillian, David, Lindsay, and I all made it until just before 4am when we decided we should leave to avoid the mad rush for the cabs.  Even Mario made an appearance! :)

Having only seen the planes from the military parade in the morning of the 14th last year, I had the idea of going to actually watch the parade this year.  But, I decided sleep quickly over ruled this idea.  What a good idea it was because by 4pm, we were camped out at the Champ de Mars for the fireworks at 11pm that night.  This year we ended up with a huge group, which was awesome not only because it's always more fun with more people but also because it meant it was easier to take up a big portion of grass in the middle.  Of course, no Parisian ex-pat picnic is complete without tons of food and drinks.  Time passed quickly by chatting, eating, playing games, and weaving our way back and forth though people to use the restroom.  So very thankful that we have met such wonderful friends in Paris to share these experiences with.

Finally, it was time for the big show to begin.  From the beginning, I knew this was going to be a special show.  There were fireworks showing years like 1914 and words like Paix, as the theme was peace to mark the 100th and 70th anniversaries of the World Wars.  And that was just the beginning.  They shot fireworks off of the Eiffel Tower, and I mean A LOT of them off the tower.  A glow-in-the dark man swung in the middle of the tower and proceeded to climb the tower while fireworks were going off around him.  Amazing and crazy all at once.  Of course, an English song was played, comme d'habitude.  This time it was John Lennon's "Imagine", which was pretty awe-inspiring to hear everyone in the audience singing about peace.

It was really difficult to choose the best photos (Nick did a great job of capturing them!), so I apologize in advance for the overload.  If you really want to see even more, you can check them out here.

That glowing blob on the top left is the guy who climbed the tower!