Le quatorze Juillet is quite the holiday here in France. The night before, all of the firefighters in the city host these huge parties--it's tradition. And let me tell you, those things are CRAZY. My friends Leilani, Stephanie and Lauren were in town, and we met up with Seven for one of the parties. People were dancing, alcohol was flowing, children were laughing. There was a cover band playing all of the hits ... with these back up dancers that would change for every song and dance with the cheesiest moves I have ever seen. For "YMCA" one of them came out in this tacky white lingerie with a huge native american headdress with neon feathers. The moves reminded me of the Sims or some sort of video game.
The firemen were all very good looking. They poured champagne out of their firehoses and would do little strip teases on the tables for the ladies--I'm not kidding.
On the 14th I woke up early and went up to the Champs-Elysées for the parade. It was a huge event. It took me about 20 minutes to actually get out of the metro, and an hour to walk up the street, and then crawl through the crowds over to the side of the curb ... I called Kate and when they heard me talking on my cell phone in English everyone pointed and whispered. I flashed my little American smile and got up right to the edge. I rule.
Then, the whole French military marched down the street, Sarkozy leading the way on his little motorized cart.
Planes flew overhead.
I'm talking 15 flyovers... and the parade took 2 hours. It was great. I must say I love a man in uniform.
After this, I went home and had a little rest. Around 7, I realized I should probably head over to the Eiffel Tower to get a good spot for the fireworks. I thought I would be so clever as to rent one of the bikes from the little station outside my apartment and ride it then return it to a station right near the tower, thus avoiding the crowded metro. I had a great ride over there ... got to see all of the street festivities, etc. I soon found that all of the streets were blocked off about a mile around the tower, and tried to park my bike at the nearest station ... full. I went around the whole neighborhood to every free station ... they were all full. (There is about one on every other street.) I finally ended up finding one in Montparnasse. It took me forever on the metro to get to where I wanted to go, then about an hour of walking until I found the grass where my friends Kate, Kyle, Laura, and Dan were sitting. It was about 10:15. I was pretty worn out. The sun had just set and the sky was quite pretty.
The fireworks were incredible. It was the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower and so it was a half hour long. They projected pictures and words on the tower and shot different kinds of fireworks out the side and the top. I've never seen a more entertaining fireworks show. Very well put together.Here's us afterward.
Pretty tiring day. Kyle and Laura came home with me after and slept at my apartment. Riding bikes home was a better idea ... riding bikes at night in Paris is the best thing in the world. All my friends have now left and I am once again left with my own devices. This weekend should be restful. Seven was telling me about an animal cemetery up in Montmartre, apparently there is a German documentary about it where they follow a cat from Chatelet as it makes its way up to the animal cemetery ... apparently it's the huge hangout for stray cats. Seven wants me to go there with her but there is no way in hell.
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