Today is July 14th - Bastille Day - and a national holiday in France. It is the day the French celebrate the start of the French Revolution back in 1789, and is capped by fireworks in cities all over the country.
I forgot Bastille Day was coming up until I saw it on my Page-A-Day France Desk Calendar, which today features a fireworks display over the Port of Marseille. That photograph reminded me that the last time I was in France, I spent hours late at night driving back and forth between Marseille and Avignon, a not inconsiderable distance, looking for the exit to Saint-Remy-de-Provence (the birthplace of Nostradamus, no less) After I got off the freeway, I was hopelessly lost, and wound up getting a police escort to my motel around midnight. But I digress.
In honor of Bastille Day, I am featuring some photographs I took while visiting Paris a number of years ago. The top two photographs I took back in 2005, stopping there for just a day on my way home from visiting Italy and France's Provence region. The photograph on the left I took on my first trip to Paris - for that matter, my first trip to Europe - back in 2004. I flew over there for 5 days, staying at the Hotel Royal Phare in Paris's Rue Clare neighborhood. It was my most memorable trip ever. Taking the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel Tower was almost a surreal experience, and I didn't want to come down from the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral after I got up there. Perhaps when I retire I will take up residence as 'The Geezer of Notre Dame." Happy Bastille Day Everybody!
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