July 14: A Blast on Bastille Day

Bastille Day is the French national holiday, and occurs every July 14th, just like Canada Day occurs every July 1st. Being in Paris on Bastille Day is like being in Ottawa on Canada Day or in Washington on the 4th of July; HUGE gatherings of people for celebrating the nation. Bastille Day commemorates a key moment in the French Revolution (late 1700s) when the people stormed the Bastille (French for castle or ‘bastion’), a sign of the violent overthrow of centuries of monarchical rule and the birth of a democratic republic.

A parade showcasing the French republic’s military has been held every Bastille Day, almost without exception, since the late 1800s.

Our first July 14th activity was to watch the parade from along the Champs-Élysées - the great thoroughfare that goes through central Paris between Arc de Triomphe and ending Place de la Concorde (a site famous for having been where public executions were held during the revolution - think guillotine).

We left our flat early in the morning to catch the Metro, as Beth had read some of the subway might be shut down during the parade.

We did have to get off the train a bit early and walk a few more blocks to get to our viewing spot at about the mid-point of the Champs-Élysées. Even though the parade start was still over 90 minutes away, there were already tons of people assembled.

Having been to several Stampede parades in Calgary before, this parade had much to compare and contrast. Compared to Calgary, the Bastille Day parade had a lot fewer horses and marching bands, no floats, a lot more military and first responders (police and firemen), only one politician instead of several, and WAY more military vehicles and planes!

Over 5000 men and women participated in the marching army, naval, cadet, and first responder detachments. For a parade that lasted less than an hour, it probably took over 3 hours for them all to assemble. It’s hard to imagine a parade in Canada being devoted solely to celebrating our military; perhaps this is more likely in a country like France or the U.S. whose history and origin is rooted in a lot of violent struggle.

Highlights included the jet flyover with French flag colours in their jet stream, along with over 60 other aircraft flying over. The crowd also got excited when the French president, Emmanuel Macron, drove past to inspect the assembled troops, flanked by cavalry (including some of them blowing horns while on horseback!). There were also some absolutely huge military vehicles, including military bridge builders, cement mixer and construction cranes.

Inscribed on most of these vehicles was either the name and date of some place where the French military have either served or fought (Germany - 1943, for example), or the name and rank of a particular French officer, presumably of some repute. I found it interesting that officer rankings are chiefly French words - lieutenant, colonel, général, admiral- and such words persist into the English speaking militaries too. It probably dates back to Latin/Roman times.

After the parade, we found a patisserie called Maison Jardin (an award winner in local pastry competition) and picked up some yummy chicken baguette sandwiches, pain au chocolat, chocolate éclair, and two other pastries: mille feuille (“a thousand sheets”) and a religieuse (literally means “nun”, but is a stacked puff pastry with a body and a head). We found a lovely park away from the city noise to enjoy them. Luke has been advocating ever since that we only eat French pastry for the rest of our time in Paris… Luke, Faith and Reid also played frisbee, and included a couple of interested local preschoolers named Michel and Fleur.

We took the Metro back to our flat for a 2-3 hour much-needed siesta.

In the evening, we headed back out to find dinner somewhere near to Champ de Mars, a park area next to the Eiffel Tower, where Bastille Day fireworks were scheduled for 11 p.m. We found a brasserie/café called Cafe le Dôme, and enjoyed a meal including classic French fare such as ratatouille, beef bourguignon, and crème brûlée.

By the time we finished eating, the crowds were so thick they were starting to sit on the sidewalk and into the street; there was no attempting to get back to Champ de Mars. We found a spot to sit and wait for the fireworks too for the next 1.5h; we played Uno and a smartphone game called HeadsUp. Fireworks were pretty cool, even if view was partially obstructed. The neatest part was when fireworks were launched in patterns from the Tower itself, instead of merely from ground level.

It was easily the biggest crowd of people we have ever been part of; Beth read that an estimated 1 million show up for the Paris Bastille Day fireworks. It took us another hour to get back to the flat, mostly by walking. We tried Metro once, but the trains were packed like sardines with people.