In France, their “independence day” is July 14th. Luckily, I was in Paris to experience this celebration while I was studying abroad in Paris! On the 13th day, you could tell the city was buzzing in preparation for the next day. Because of this, Michael and I had a lazy day. We got breakfast and took it over to the park off of Rue du Faubourg. Here, we watched a caribbean band play music for a while, which was quite entertaining. Later that day, we met up with our friends from the Cite Universitaire and had our own bbq! This was really fun and we just sat and picnicked for a while. This is what most Parisians do on their free time. They like to picnic, smoke, eat cheese and wine (which is excellent in France, of course), smoke, and enjoy each others’ company. I love this type of lifestyle 🙂
After eating and hanging out for a while, we went to a local bar in Paris. I, unfortunately, don’t remember the name of the bar 🙁 but it was a typical bar. We caught a cab later and came home late!
Finally, the day was here….Bastille Day! We got breakfast at McDonald’s because all the other local businesses were closed since it was a holiday. We then stopped by the CarreFour, which is a grocery store here, and loaded up on provisions for the day. We picked up wine and snacks and then took all that and a blanket over to the Eiffel Tower. In the grass by the Eiffel Tower is where everyone sits to watch the fireworks. Our teacher told us there would be thousands of people there! So Michael and I went early to get a good spot. We got lucky and got a spot that was in the center of everything! There was a show before the initial fireworks, and then around 9:30 pm or 10 pm, the fireworks started. It was one of the coolest fireworks I had ever seen! They also lit the Eiffel Tower up so it was oh so pretty and SPARKLY 😀
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| Our spot in front of the Eiffel Tower was great! Look at the flag in the middle of the Eiffel Tower…very cool! |
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| You can see how the fireworks illuminated the Eiffel Tower. |
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| They coordinated the lights on the Eiffel Tower and the fireworks with the music playing! By the way sorry for the poor picture quality again! It was difficult to take a picture with so many things going on and I didn’t have the best camera at the time! |
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| Look at how pretty the Eiffel Tower was! |
Overall, one of my favorite days of my study abroad program in Paris, France. Just as a side note, if you’re ever in Paris, visit the Eiffel Tower during the day AND at night. They turn the lights on at sunset, which in Paris during the summer time, is very late. Usually, the lights would sparkle at 10 pm, 11 pm, 12 pm, 1 am, and 2 am. I believe these are the times. I know they go off every hour, on the hour, after sunset. Definitely check them out because they are amazing!
Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower sparkle? Would you ever visit for Bastille Day?
Let me know if you have any questions so far and what you think about my study abroad series! I’d love to hear your feedback 🙂
Keep on reading!! My next post is about visiting Victor Hugo’s house (the author of the Hunchback of Notre Dame), the notorious Club Rex, and L’Orangerie Museum!
xoxo, Morgan
