There was a grand parade and air show on the Champs-Elysées. N and I missed the fanfare due to a late morning and leisurely lunch, but we caught some of the daytime revelry. We walked two miles from our home to la place de la Concorde, catching a military expo of sorts along the way, in a small square between the Louvre and the Palais Royal. There was an army camper showing military footage (it was so crowded we couldn’t get close enough to see any), but we had fun checking out the mannequins of legionnaires throughout the ages – particularly the prominently featured WWI soldiers. There was also a tent showcasing military-branded wine (where else would you see that but in France?), which was also thronged. We squeezed past an endless torrent of tourists by the Louvre and in the Tuileries to get to Concorde, the endpoint of the parade, where we witnessed hordes and hordes of decorated soldiers and navy sailors in their dandy outfits posing for pictures and savoring ice cream cones in the heat.
In the evening, we went to N’s family friend’s rooftop dinner party in the swanky 16th arrondisement. This sport afforded us a perfect view of La Tour Eiffel and the annual spectacle des feus d’artifice (fireworks show) right beside it. Let’s just say that the French know how to do fireworks, and seeing them streaking through the skyline beside La Tour Eiffel was magical. Overheard on the rooftop was the poignant quip, “Here are our tax dollars at work, people!” Ha. We took an insane amount of pictures, so I’ll let the ones I’ve included do the rest of the talking.
It was nice to be in a secluded spot for the occasion. Tons of locals and tourists pack themselves onto the Champ de Mars in front of La Tour Eiffel. Apparently the crowd was enormous and the gendarmerie were checking people’s bags and confiscating alcohol (only to drink it themselves, I’m sure).
After being nestled in the serene cocoon of the rooftop party, we eventually had to rejoin the masses, which were pouring out of every street—people partying, strolling, eating ice cream on their way to the Metro from the nearby Champ de Mars. Uh oh. The Metro ride started out semi-comfortably, but got more and more crowded as we made our way across town, eventually reaching a crisis point of transport strike-levels of suffocation about halfway home. The crowds waiting on the platforms were mind-bogglingly huge. At one point, we couldn’t take it anymore and instantaneously bolted off the train, although it took quite a while to wade through the dense thicket of people packed onto the platform and staircases until we finally made it outside—at Concorde, the exact point where we ended our daytime walk.
And so we did the same walk twice in one day, as there were no Velibs to be found anywhere. We caught the mini-carnival festivities in the Tuileries, which were even livelier at night than during the day, what with all the flashing neon and people high on booze and/or cotton candy. We topped off the day with a great late-night walk, with the sounds of revelry carrying all the way into the Marais.
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