The barricades going up at Le Marais Fire hall in anticipation of the Firemen's Ball. Across Rue de Rivoli, St. Paul's awaits the morning confessions.
The equipment was all out on the street, parked for a getaway if needed.
A few of Paris' pompiers.
The lines started forming at about 7 p.m., so it must be a good party.
In full swing, seen from a safe distance ;-)
On Bastille Day, July 14, the big events are the military parade down the Champs Elysees and the Fireworks from the Eiffel Tower and Trocadero. When we were here in 2010 we tried to see the parade on the Champs, but with the barricaded viewing areas the best we saw were hats bobbing in the distance. However, we remembered that the parade started with the airforce so we found a lovely open area in the Tuileries and watched the show.
We walked by I.M.Pei's pyramid at the Louvre.
And turned right through these gates.
This is as close as they would let us get to the Place de la Concorde where the dignitaries were sitting in covered seats. I do love that you can see over the fountain in the last part of the Tuileries garden, around the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, and all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe with the huge French flag.
And the air show began.
There wasn't much point in sticking around, since we couldn't see the parade from here, so we ambled out a side entrance and crossed the Seine.
That's the Grand Palais in the background, we haven't seen the inside yet but it's on the agenda.
The Musee D'Orsay. Definitely going there again.
Not sure which two churches are in this shot. The map suggests perhaps the American Cathedral and St. Pierre de Chaillot.
Beautiful window screens.
A couple of sculptures in front of the D'Orsay Museum.
Withe the removed from the Pont des Arts, it was pretty easy to know they would start showing up somewhere else.
On a Quay beside the river there was a st up for Urban Camping. It was very large and looked like it could be fun.
The parade came over the bridge de la Concorde and disbanded in front of the National Assembly/Palais Bourbon.
I believe the guys in the silver hats are Fire fighters, but could be wrong.
And finally the tanks and heavy artillery came rolling through to clapping crowds. I was thinking of how it must have felt to see something similar when Paris was liberated in WW2.
The very end was signalled by Paratroopers. Cool.
Right near where we were standing there was a group of protestors that was shown little sympathy by the police. We saw at least a dozen vans from the Police Nationale who surrounded and detained the mob. When we asked who was protesting a woman who seemed to be involved said proudly, "It's Anonymous." When we asked what they were protesting, she said "Corruption." When we said, "Isn't it everywhere?" She said, "Well it shouldn't be, that's why they march." Ah, to be 20-something again and full of naive optimism.
Aside from the protests and parades the streets were calm and festooned.
That's the back of The Thinker in view over the hedge of the Rodin Museum. It is mounted so high. See pictures in my 2010 blog at http://shadventure.blogspot.ca
Many Museums are free on Bastille Day, so we decided to forego the crowds at the big ones and go to Les Invalides. This huge site is a war museum, care facility for wounded soldiers, and the tomb of several Napoleons, but most impressively, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Tomb of Napoleon 1.
Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Site model.
You descend behind the alter to reach the tomb level.
Pipe organ in the adjacent chapel.
Entry to the tomb.
I'd say they really, really liked him.
A couple of random hats you can buy at the souvenir stand, for a friend who shall remain nameless - Kevin.
In the evening we returned to the Tuileries for the fireworks. We were going to head right down my the Eiffel Tower to the Champs de Mars, but decided to forego the crowds. So sorry that we did. The view from here was okay, but the 35 minute show would have been magnificent from there. Next time!
Check out the show here:
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