Bastille Day!

July 15, 2007 by Tiffany.

Jason had the brilliant idea of getting a hotel room close to the Eiffel Tower for Bastille day, the French Independence Day.  We had no idea what to expect, but some of his French colleagues at work recommended going there with some sandwiches and wine for a free concert and a fireworks show in the evening.  Since we are staying about 40 minutes outside of Paris, they highly recommended accommodations nearby that didn’t require taking the train with the rest of the Parisians.  We picked our grassy spot in between the stage and the Eiffel Tower at about 4:30, although the concert didn’t start until 7:00.

We nearly died in the blazing, interminable rays of the sun, (have I mentioned that the sun does not set here until 10:00 pm?), but we survived thanks to Jason’s trusty yellow umbrella.  All said, Bastille Day at the Eiffel Tower was completely awesome.  It definitely has to be in the top 5 coolest things I’ve ever experienced, maybe even the top three.  By the time 7:00 rolled around, the place was packed.  I am not very good with numbers, and I’ll be looking online to see if I can find anything concrete, but J and I estimate that between 150,000 to 200,000 people were there.  It was a complete international madhouse… French, Americans, British, Spanish, Italians, you name it.  Tons of people from everywhere were there camped out on the grass and beyond.  Nearly all of the streets in the vicinity were closed down to vehicles, and paratroopers kept jumping out of helicopters continuously for nearly three hours.

The concert itself was a blast and ran for 3 1/2 hours.  There was a DJ from Chicago, some Italian singer, a hard core heavy metal band, Nelly Furtado, (the concert highlight for me), and some crazy French singer who was exiled in the U.S. for a couple of decades due to tax evasion, Michel Polnareff.  Think present day Elton John if he had never grown out of his “Captain Fantastic” stage.

After the concert was the best part of the entire night: a fireworks display choreographed to mostly movie music set behind the Eiffel Tower.  Other than shoddy audio that kept giving out, the show was really incredible.  We didn’t leave the park until midnight, and even still the place was packed with people sitting, drinking wine and setting off their own fireworks.  J and I both agree that we likely have already peaked only a few days into the trip.  It’s hard to imagine what could be more spectacular than that, but who’s to say.  All said though, it’s nice to be back at MySuite Village and I’m sure a good night’s sleep is in order.

Posted in Travel | No Comments »