Bastille Day Wednesday July 14
Above are the fireworks. At left - here we are taking refuge in a cafe while it rained and rained. The streets were rivers. It apparently rained so hard that several Metro stations had to close.
This was the day we were waiting for. Bastille Day!!! I knew something was not quite right at 8:00 am when I went out to walk Angel. It was raining – not hard, but it was raining. Oh well it’s just a light rain.
We had decided to skip the big military parade at Arc du Triumph and go to museums in the Marai. As we walked to get coffee we heard big jets overhead. This was the air show part of the parade. There were quite a few passes overhead of big plans and “Blue Angel” type jets. Then it started to rain – still lightly but no doubt dampening the spirits of the spectators at the actual parade. After coffee we walked to the History Museum in the Marai – closed. We tried the Jewish Museum – closed. Just when we were about to figure out what we were going to do the sky got really, really dark. It was obvious about to rain really hard. We ducked into a corner café/bar. I told MaryAnn I would try to find a shop that sold umbrellas – as we were in the middle of a major shopping area in the Marai. I checked all the stores that were open (many were closed for the holiday). I was directed by one shop to try one down the street = the clerk was sure that store had umbrellas. The good news – it did have them, I could see them in the window. The bad news – it was closed.
Just as I gave up on the umbrella idea and head back to the café where MaryAnn was waiting the skies opened and here came the rain. This time it wasn’t raining lightly – it was a deluge of gigantic proportions. I ran down the sidewalk ducking for cover under awnings. It was useless – I got absolutely drenched. I got to the café and was literally dripping wet. The rain, thunder, and lightning continued for three hours and we, and about 20 other people, were refugees in the café watching the river flow down the street.
The rain finally let up and we got back to the hotel. We dried out and rested. We planned to eat on Ile St. Louis and then watch the fireworks from the bridge on the Seine. We, of course, decided to start out with a glass of wine near the Bastille. This time we tried a different sidewalk café. We found a vacant table, sat down, looked to our left and there, again, even at the different café – were our Montreal friends. Mr. Blue & White striped shirt was there, in his same shirt, but now without any pigeon poop. This time one of the things we discussed was “Six Feet Under” – the female Montreal person claimed this was her favorite TV show of all time, and that it had made her decide that “some” Americans were intelligent. We, once again, bid our Canadian buddies a fond farewell but this time knowing it really was the last time as we were leaving the next day.
We had a “so-so” dinner on Ile St. Louis and then went to the bridge to await the Bastille Day fireworks. They didn’t start until almost 11 pm as it only then gets really dark. The fireworks were pretty hard to see as we were further away than we thought. It was still fun anyway. The pictures won’t be very impressive but we enjoyed them.
We headed back to the hotel and were very sorry for the Paris part of our visit to end.
This was the day we were waiting for. Bastille Day!!! I knew something was not quite right at 8:00 am when I went out to walk Angel. It was raining – not hard, but it was raining. Oh well it’s just a light rain.
We had decided to skip the big military parade at Arc du Triumph and go to museums in the Marai. As we walked to get coffee we heard big jets overhead. This was the air show part of the parade. There were quite a few passes overhead of big plans and “Blue Angel” type jets. Then it started to rain – still lightly but no doubt dampening the spirits of the spectators at the actual parade. After coffee we walked to the History Museum in the Marai – closed. We tried the Jewish Museum – closed. Just when we were about to figure out what we were going to do the sky got really, really dark. It was obvious about to rain really hard. We ducked into a corner café/bar. I told MaryAnn I would try to find a shop that sold umbrellas – as we were in the middle of a major shopping area in the Marai. I checked all the stores that were open (many were closed for the holiday). I was directed by one shop to try one down the street = the clerk was sure that store had umbrellas. The good news – it did have them, I could see them in the window. The bad news – it was closed.
Just as I gave up on the umbrella idea and head back to the café where MaryAnn was waiting the skies opened and here came the rain. This time it wasn’t raining lightly – it was a deluge of gigantic proportions. I ran down the sidewalk ducking for cover under awnings. It was useless – I got absolutely drenched. I got to the café and was literally dripping wet. The rain, thunder, and lightning continued for three hours and we, and about 20 other people, were refugees in the café watching the river flow down the street.
The rain finally let up and we got back to the hotel. We dried out and rested. We planned to eat on Ile St. Louis and then watch the fireworks from the bridge on the Seine. We, of course, decided to start out with a glass of wine near the Bastille. This time we tried a different sidewalk café. We found a vacant table, sat down, looked to our left and there, again, even at the different café – were our Montreal friends. Mr. Blue & White striped shirt was there, in his same shirt, but now without any pigeon poop. This time one of the things we discussed was “Six Feet Under” – the female Montreal person claimed this was her favorite TV show of all time, and that it had made her decide that “some” Americans were intelligent. We, once again, bid our Canadian buddies a fond farewell but this time knowing it really was the last time as we were leaving the next day.
We had a “so-so” dinner on Ile St. Louis and then went to the bridge to await the Bastille Day fireworks. They didn’t start until almost 11 pm as it only then gets really dark. The fireworks were pretty hard to see as we were further away than we thought. It was still fun anyway. The pictures won’t be very impressive but we enjoyed them.
We headed back to the hotel and were very sorry for the Paris part of our visit to end.
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