July 14: La Fête nationale

We all know that Canada Day is July 1 and that Independence Day is July 4, but did you know that only ten days after that is France's national celebration? Anglophones call it Bastille Day, but it is known here as le quatorze juillet. Historically this date is significant because in 1789 it marked the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris during the French Revolution. However the date was also chosen to commemorate the same day of the following year, 1790, which was the Fête de la Fédération, a dinner that marked the end of the revolution and united France once again. 

This national holiday has been celebrated since 1880, and the tradition includes a military parade in Paris that has been around since the holiday's inception, live music in the streets and of course, fireworks! There is one other event that occurs is on the eve of the 14th, called le bal des pompiers, which is the Fireman's ball. These balls occur all over the city and are essentially dance parties run by firemen with donations going towards the firehalls where they work. Unfortunately we missed out on the night of the 13th, but we did not miss the big day.

We started our afternoon by checking out some free electronic music in a park that was conveniently selling beer and hot dogs, so we got in line. As someone fairly well acquainted with hot dogs and the street meat of Toronto, I was pleasantly surprised when we were handed ours: they were in baguettes. So French! I loved it. After chilling out in the park we headed to Vieux Lyon before meeting up with our friend François and his friend Eun-ji for some Thai food. (It was not to the calibre of Toronto's Thai food, but it was still nice to have some pad-thai after many months.) 

After dinner the streets were starting to get busier with people coming out to listen to live bands and reserving their sidewalk space to watch the fireworks. The show was being put on from from Fourvière so we picked up a few cans of beer and sat in wait for an hour on the Pont Bonaparte as the sun went down. Finally around 10:30pm the lights of the basilica went out and the show began!

While my photos do not do any justice to the impressive display in the sky that we were privy to, I was able to capture the mass exodus post-fireworks.

We opted to walk home that night to avoid the madness in the metro but we definitely had a great day experiencing the ways of the French national holiday.