14 July 2012

Joyeux 14 juillet!

My favorite holiday is here! What I wouldn't give to be in Paris this weekend. The feux d'artifice (fireworks) are utterly incredible. Every year is a different musical genre, this year is disco! They have even hoisted a giant disco ball underneath the Eiffel Tower.


Everyone can watch the fireworks via live web cam here. Around 3:30 - 4:00 cst should be about right. It doesn't get dark in Paris until 10:30!

As I am scrambling to finish my devoirs de français, I'll trust you to follow the links and read up on the Bastille Day activities in Paris.  Wait until you see the playlist of disco classics! You may as well refresh your memory on the French Revolution while you're at it.

"The City of Paris has given this year to the company and holiday lights, the design of the fireworks of July 14 dedicated to disco. An exceptional evening that promises to fever invite with a fireworks explosive neon colors , dazzling lights and installing a giant mirror ball of 7.5 m "the mistress of the Eiffel Tower" and 1200 mirrors , created by artist Michel de Broin!
A unique show where everyone can dance and sing the greatest hits disco domestic and international, on the Champ de Mars transformed for the occasion into a huge nightclub cheerful, friendly and feverish."  (Google translation,not mine)



Bastille Day is the French National Day which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) and commonly le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France. The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe is held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, French officials and foreign guests.


Place de la Bastille - Photograph by Getty Images

Vive la France!



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