Quatorze de Juliet

Do you think Pippin misses us?

Sometime before dawn a weather system moved in and we awoke to the first in a series of thunderstorms.  That was disappointing, but just as well.  We needed to pack and straighten up the flat.  We turned on the tv for the first time in 2 weeks and caught up to real life by checking in on the Tour de France and then left it on while the Bastille Day parade ran.  It was primarily a military exhibition - with the fascinating inclusion of particular nations presenting their armies to Sarkozy.  I had never seen anything like it. 

Subway graffiti

By late afternoon the storms passed and we decided to head out.  The fireworks are set off in the Trocadero, opposite the river from the Eiffel Tower.  If I am uncomfortable with crowds, it is safe to say that Ken nearly breaks out in hives.  We haven’t been to a fireworks show since the 1980s because of the ordeal it takes to do so. 

It used to go something like this: 

sparkly

You’d get there early because of the walk to the site.  If you were lucky, you’d carve out an area the size of a blanket, so your family could sit and watch the show.  Then as time drew near, people would creep into your space, inch-by-inch, or foot-by-foot. 

Sometimes, some middle-aged lady (for the record, middle-aged is anything 5 years older than me) and her friend would decide that she’d just stand near you, and like, sort of stick her derriere in your daughter’s face as she tried to horn her way into your space.  You might have to accidentally put your elbow into the back of her knee so that her leg would buckle.  She might move a few inches away, and your adrenaline might pump a little at the rudeness of her.  And you’d tell yourself that it’s silly to get annoyed over other people’s rude behavior.
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Like this assclown

Then at the last minute, some tall guy would step in front and ruin it for everyone, forcing them to stand and crane their neck to try to see a portion of what they had a full view of 5 minutes ago.  Then you’d have to fight the crowds going home, hoping no one starts a panicked stampede.

It turns out that absolutely nothing has changed in 25 years.

Despite the first rude Parisians we had run into in two weeks, the show was pretty spectacular.  

We were stationed on the first bridge west/south of the Eiffel Tower and had a great view around the tall guy.  

It isn’t some hyper-produced commercially financed Neil Diamond Bruce Springsteen sing along.  Just awesome fireworks.  

I loved it.  Aidan loved it, but covered his ears.  Riley liked it but was meh about the experience and Ken wondered why it was we didn’t leave for Germany today instead of tomorrow morning.  

Just as we reached our metro station it started to rain.  It was 12:30am and the metro was so crowded that we had to wait a train to get home.  It showered all night, and was sunny the next morning for our farewell to France.