Post by LHR02 on Aug 21, 2005 8:46:07 GMT -5
Vive La Republique . . .
Hello readers:
So what follows will be my attempt to catch up on my blog entries. There are three significant ones I want to write. They concern: Bastille Day, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the Tour de France. I'm eager to get them written ASAP (lest I forget) so here goes . . .
The 14th of July is Bastille Day -- it commemorates the storming of the Bastille on the same day in 1789. The Bastille was a horrible prison that existed in Paris. In particular, the people who were imprisoned there were apparently held for largely political reasons and certainly very arbitrarily! The storming of the Bastille held great symbolic significance and to this day remains one of the pivotal moments of the revolution. In France, Bastille Day (as we refer to it in the Anglophone world) is actually called le Fete Nationale (the National Holiday). If I have learned anything in all my time in France is that the French are very proud of being a republic.
With that in mind I thought the French would certainly know how to throw a good party for such an important occasion. And I was determined to be a part of it!!!
The celebrations, in typical French style, actually begin on the evening of the 13th. They most often take the form of gatherings at Firemen's Balls. Yup, you read right: Firemen's Ball. A lot of the fire houses around the country throw open their gates that night and host balls. Entire towns show up for the festivities. There is drinking, laughter, dancing . . . an all around good time! I should also mention that they are popular with the young and old -- although the average age decreases as the night wears on.
My friends and I considered going to the Firemen's Balls but we opted against it. Instead, we thought we would do it Brazilian style in what was sure to be the biggest party in all of France! Brazil? Yup, Brazil! You see, every year the French choose a country to honour. They then declare it to be the year of that country and hold special exhibitions and all sorts of events related to the honoured State. This year, is the year of Brazil in France. And accordingly the French decided to organize a Brazil themed party on the Place de la Bastille (the prison was torn down and is no longer standing) for the evening of the 13th. Some of my classmates in the program are actually Brazilian and they had given us a heads-up! They let us know that a very famous Brazilian musician would be playing that evening and it was sure to be a great concert. Nothing seemed more fitting than celebrating Bastille Day (or the ever thereof) then doing so at the actual Place de la Bastille. Our minds were made-up -- it would be a Bastille Day, Brazilian style.
We met at Francisco's house early in the evening. He's a friend of mine from Puerto Rico who has a place by Place de la Bastille. Funny thing is his place is the nicest out of all of my friends. This despite the fact that he showed up to Paris homeless and they all booked their places months ago! That and he pays less than half of what the rest of them do!!
At Francisco's place we all nibbled food and sat there just enjoy the fact that we didn't have class the next day. It was another one of those perfect Paris moments. Drinking wine, eating, hanging out by open windows/balconies with a view of the typical blue rooftops of Paris. Not only was the setting perfect but the company was too! All the people I've met during the program are really really fantastic friends. It's remarkable how well we all get along.
We relaxed there for several hours and some of them decided to get suitably smashed. Well not purposefully but as often is the case with these things before they knew what they were doing they were heading that way. Eventually though we decided to head back to the Place for the concert. We figured given that it was approximately 10pm the headliner was sure to be soon on stage.
It was only as we were walking to the Place that the absolute enormousness of the event actually hit me. I wasn't kidding when I said it was the biggest party in France -- the place was absolutely packed. Blocks and blocks of people listening to incredible Brazilian music, dancing, drinking wine and generally just having a good time! I know it was the eve of Bastille Day but it looked more like Brazilian National day and by the looks of things that was okay with everyone. My friends and I managed to wade through the massive crowds and get as close as we possibly could to the action. We were situated right on the Place with enough space for all of us to have a good time -- directly in front of us was the column that marks the spot were the prison once stood. That was framed by rays of lights emanating from the stage behind it. There were French flags everywhere. It was perfectly fitting for the occasion! Off in the distance was the stage with the performers but closer to us was a Jumbotron that allowed us to experience the action as though we were much closer.
The headliner hit the stage at about the same time as we got there. WOW! That guy was completely amazing. Almost as though it were Carnaval in Rio. It was then that probably the most memorable moment of that evening occurred. The performers started belting out a tune that was clearly well known to all of the Brazilians in the crowd -- including a friend of mine, Eduardo. I looked up (he's much taller than I) and he had this look of perfect happiness on his face as he sang along with eyes closed and arms outstretched. He looked perfectly happy -- a Brazilian in Paris but at home at the sametime. Perfection.
Needless to say that the rest of the night passed in an equal mood of revelry, dancing, having fun. Eventually at about midnight I started worrying about getting back to the Cite. The rest of my friends decided to go to another friend's house for a party but I knew if I went I would never make it to the military parade the next morning and I really wanted to go. It was at that moment that I decided to bid adieu to the night's festivities and my friends to head back to the campus of the Cite. The crowd was a little thick though and one of my male friends decided it would be wise to walk me back to the Metro himself. It was very nice of him and I was ever so grateful (thanks Hamed!).
The metro was full of people also heading back on the last couple of trains so the journey back didn't feel dangerous at all. In fact it's one of the things I really liked about living at the Cite. Even when I was heading back on the last metro it was always okay 'cause I was never alone. There were lots of other students doing the same thing.
Back in my room, sweaty, and happy I fell asleep. But not too long. It was 1AM by this point and I was meeting a couple of friends I met on the Saint Malo/Mont Saint Michel trip at 7AM the next morning. Our destination? The Champs Elysees and the military parade . . .
Until the next time,
A Canadian in Paris
Hello readers:
So what follows will be my attempt to catch up on my blog entries. There are three significant ones I want to write. They concern: Bastille Day, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the Tour de France. I'm eager to get them written ASAP (lest I forget) so here goes . . .
The 14th of July is Bastille Day -- it commemorates the storming of the Bastille on the same day in 1789. The Bastille was a horrible prison that existed in Paris. In particular, the people who were imprisoned there were apparently held for largely political reasons and certainly very arbitrarily! The storming of the Bastille held great symbolic significance and to this day remains one of the pivotal moments of the revolution. In France, Bastille Day (as we refer to it in the Anglophone world) is actually called le Fete Nationale (the National Holiday). If I have learned anything in all my time in France is that the French are very proud of being a republic.
With that in mind I thought the French would certainly know how to throw a good party for such an important occasion. And I was determined to be a part of it!!!
The celebrations, in typical French style, actually begin on the evening of the 13th. They most often take the form of gatherings at Firemen's Balls. Yup, you read right: Firemen's Ball. A lot of the fire houses around the country throw open their gates that night and host balls. Entire towns show up for the festivities. There is drinking, laughter, dancing . . . an all around good time! I should also mention that they are popular with the young and old -- although the average age decreases as the night wears on.
My friends and I considered going to the Firemen's Balls but we opted against it. Instead, we thought we would do it Brazilian style in what was sure to be the biggest party in all of France! Brazil? Yup, Brazil! You see, every year the French choose a country to honour. They then declare it to be the year of that country and hold special exhibitions and all sorts of events related to the honoured State. This year, is the year of Brazil in France. And accordingly the French decided to organize a Brazil themed party on the Place de la Bastille (the prison was torn down and is no longer standing) for the evening of the 13th. Some of my classmates in the program are actually Brazilian and they had given us a heads-up! They let us know that a very famous Brazilian musician would be playing that evening and it was sure to be a great concert. Nothing seemed more fitting than celebrating Bastille Day (or the ever thereof) then doing so at the actual Place de la Bastille. Our minds were made-up -- it would be a Bastille Day, Brazilian style.
We met at Francisco's house early in the evening. He's a friend of mine from Puerto Rico who has a place by Place de la Bastille. Funny thing is his place is the nicest out of all of my friends. This despite the fact that he showed up to Paris homeless and they all booked their places months ago! That and he pays less than half of what the rest of them do!!
At Francisco's place we all nibbled food and sat there just enjoy the fact that we didn't have class the next day. It was another one of those perfect Paris moments. Drinking wine, eating, hanging out by open windows/balconies with a view of the typical blue rooftops of Paris. Not only was the setting perfect but the company was too! All the people I've met during the program are really really fantastic friends. It's remarkable how well we all get along.
We relaxed there for several hours and some of them decided to get suitably smashed. Well not purposefully but as often is the case with these things before they knew what they were doing they were heading that way. Eventually though we decided to head back to the Place for the concert. We figured given that it was approximately 10pm the headliner was sure to be soon on stage.
It was only as we were walking to the Place that the absolute enormousness of the event actually hit me. I wasn't kidding when I said it was the biggest party in France -- the place was absolutely packed. Blocks and blocks of people listening to incredible Brazilian music, dancing, drinking wine and generally just having a good time! I know it was the eve of Bastille Day but it looked more like Brazilian National day and by the looks of things that was okay with everyone. My friends and I managed to wade through the massive crowds and get as close as we possibly could to the action. We were situated right on the Place with enough space for all of us to have a good time -- directly in front of us was the column that marks the spot were the prison once stood. That was framed by rays of lights emanating from the stage behind it. There were French flags everywhere. It was perfectly fitting for the occasion! Off in the distance was the stage with the performers but closer to us was a Jumbotron that allowed us to experience the action as though we were much closer.
The headliner hit the stage at about the same time as we got there. WOW! That guy was completely amazing. Almost as though it were Carnaval in Rio. It was then that probably the most memorable moment of that evening occurred. The performers started belting out a tune that was clearly well known to all of the Brazilians in the crowd -- including a friend of mine, Eduardo. I looked up (he's much taller than I) and he had this look of perfect happiness on his face as he sang along with eyes closed and arms outstretched. He looked perfectly happy -- a Brazilian in Paris but at home at the sametime. Perfection.
Needless to say that the rest of the night passed in an equal mood of revelry, dancing, having fun. Eventually at about midnight I started worrying about getting back to the Cite. The rest of my friends decided to go to another friend's house for a party but I knew if I went I would never make it to the military parade the next morning and I really wanted to go. It was at that moment that I decided to bid adieu to the night's festivities and my friends to head back to the campus of the Cite. The crowd was a little thick though and one of my male friends decided it would be wise to walk me back to the Metro himself. It was very nice of him and I was ever so grateful (thanks Hamed!).
The metro was full of people also heading back on the last couple of trains so the journey back didn't feel dangerous at all. In fact it's one of the things I really liked about living at the Cite. Even when I was heading back on the last metro it was always okay 'cause I was never alone. There were lots of other students doing the same thing.
Back in my room, sweaty, and happy I fell asleep. But not too long. It was 1AM by this point and I was meeting a couple of friends I met on the Saint Malo/Mont Saint Michel trip at 7AM the next morning. Our destination? The Champs Elysees and the military parade . . .
Until the next time,
A Canadian in Paris