Tuesday, July 14, 2015

14 Juillet 2015

The Chateau of Saint Germain-en-laye was Louis XIV's home before he moved to Versailles, and they held their Fête Nationale Française (Bastille Day celebration) the evening before, complete with awarding a Medal of Honor to a very distinguished military man, a parade of firetrucks, the presence of politicians (the Mayor arrived 30 minutes late holding up the entire show), and a marching band.

 I tried to snap the military man's medals (that dark spot on his upper left pocket is a plethora of medals) but they never completely faced the crowd.
 The fire trucks ranged from big to small, one with its own water tank, and one SUV.
 During the parade, the grand daddy of the fire trucks took the lead :)
 The marching band was much easier to photograph.



As evening fell, the lights started coming on to announce music and fireworks.
A huge globe lit up the concert and fireworks area as people sought a place on the grass. I felt like I was at a very clean organized version of Woodstock (I know that is an oxymoron) since the theme was "Rock & Fire" meaning rock music and fireworks.
The show started as soon as the live band was done playing with a breathtaking display,

and even had some Pink Floyd,

before ending with this:)

I'll be watching the festivities at the Champs-Elysées and the Eiffel Tower today from the comfort of my living room, but I was so glad to have been at a smaller celebration last night! 

No comments:

Post a Comment