An American celebrating Bastille Day in Paris

-
by Elizabeth Milovidov

So while my family and I may not get much action for a July 4th celebration, Bastille day more than makes up for it. Bastille Day is on July 14th and it marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789. It is considered the first major event of the French Revolution of 1789 – just think Les Miserables and the barricades and you’ve got a pretty good image.

The French are very serious about democracy and there are numerous Independence Day celebrations to confirm that fact: Fireman’s Annual Ball, fireworks launched from Trocadero, a military parade on the Avenue des Champs Elysees, and more. There are so many things to choose from that we usually end up wandering from the Place de la République down to the Hotel de Ville. From there the kids can watch the military parade and see platoons and squadrons and horse brigades and just about every other military branch in France. The military personnel are in their finest and you can feel Gallic pride in every step.

One of my personal favorites is the airplane parade, where hundreds of planes fly in formation from La Defense down the Champs Elysees, over the Arc de Triomphe, continuing past the Place de la Concorde and ripping across Paris. It is truly a site to behold.

Once we’ve had our fill of military celebrations, we then hop on the metro and head to the Jardins de Tuileries, where the kids can run around at the fair and ride the carrousel, ferris wheel or other rides. Lunch along the way in a Parisian bistro and the kids are set for the day.

Because it stays light so late in the evening, fireworks are not until 10pm or so and the kids are usually out like a light. (Mom and Dad too if the truth be told.) But that doesn’t stop some of the more hardcore from heading to the Champs de Mars (the big field under the Eiffel Tower) in order to position themselves for a great view of the fireworks launched from the Trocadero.

And if you look around the Champs de Mars and just look at the families walking together or the kids running around or turn your head up and watch the fireworks, you can almost pretend that you are at a stadium in the US. If you close your eyes and listen to the boom and crackle of the fireworks, followed by the oohs and ahhs and cheers, you can feel pretty confident in thinking that families are families wherever you are and democratic celebrations bring out the best – in any country.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth is a California lawyer who moved to Paris in 1995 to make some dreams come true. Fast forward a few years, she’s fluent in French (more or less), married a Russian (wow), worked as General Counsel in two French companies (no billables), and became the mom to two little boys (can you say epidural in French?). She morphed her legal and business background into a part-time teaching and children’s rights advocacy gig and now lectures on child rights, or leads child safety workshops (Internet, school security, child proofing, etc) or blogs and then picks up her boys and spends the afternoons in absolute mommy bliss (well okay, most of the time).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Tips for Creating a Healthy Environment for Kids

-
Image
Guest Post by:  Jana Free Moms want the best for their kids. They want their children to feel good and to be  happy. They want them with smiles on their faces and joy in their heart. As a mom, do you often wonder if there is some kind of magic object that you  can pull out of a hat, or a magic spell you could cast, to create this perfect  scenario? I’m pretty sure there’s no object or spell, but I do know that a healthy  environment is like a magic wand that can keep kids’ eyes bright and their bodies  full of good energy. How do we moms create a healthy environment for our kids? We focus on  keeping physical spaces clean and we do more. We make sure that each aspect  of our kids’ lives is as free from toxins as we can get it. Which means we look at  the food we eat as well as the attitude we keep. The following are 5 tips for creating a healthy environment for kids. 1. Model Good Food Choices Children usually eat what they’re...
Read more

Summer Book Club for all ages

-
Image
It almost seems incredible but I have heard people say to me "I just don't have time to read". That is the precise reason a person must read! And for those of you who have caught yourself saying that then make your first book one on time management. YES! We do have time to read. When our kids are very little we must read to them. The more we read to them the more they will grow up loving books. Kids love books that they can grab ahold of and turn the pages and look at the silly pictures even before they have a sense that there are words on those pages. But the more we read to them the more they figure it out. And when you have little kids like this in your house it might seem like you don't have time to read but you don't always have to read baby books to them. There was a great scene in the movie Three Men and a Baby where Tom Selleck's character was reading Sports Illustrated or some other grownup magazine to the baby. It didn't matter what th...
Read more

Holiday Season

-
 We're back. But more on that later! This year's holiday season is upon us and with everything going on in the world we have to get a little more creative to bring the sparkle for our little ones. This year is a great year to get back to making holiday chains out of recycled paper and a little scotch tape and spending more time snuggling and less time stressing. With holiday budgets having to be watched a little more closely every penny counts when making your holiday purchasing decisions. One of my favorite holiday traditions is the advent calendar . The only reason I am bringing this one up so early - it's not even Thanksgiving yet! - is it's important to start your Advent calendar on the first day of December. That means a little planning ahead. The advent calendar gives our family a chance to all come together and at least once a day talk about the real meaning of the season and at the same time getting a little surprise each and every day. One of our family's f...
Read more