Bastille Day in Paris: More Free Fun!
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Eiffel Tower WebcamI promised you that there’d be more free fun on Bastille Day which is celebrated in Paris on July 14th. The French call their independence day ‘Le Quatorze Juillet’ or ‘The 14th of July’ rather than Bastille Day.
Outdoor dance parties begin on July 13th - Place de la Bastille will be one of the biggest, but Parc Andre Citroen’ Dance of the Century (Metro: Javel) also looks enticing. Traditionally, it’s the fire department (les pompiers) who sponsor neighborhood dances. The possibility for dancing in the street can be found in just about every Parisian neighborhood on the 13th & 14th when each firemen’s precinct opens its doors (check each precinct to confirm dates).
We are in the midst of Paris Tourism Week (which began July 5, 2008 and will continue through July 14, Bastille Day, ‘08). The ‘event’ has expanded from Paris Tourism Day last year. I did not participate in the huge ’smile formation’ yesterday - and honestly the idea of a ‘Smiling Paris’ just seems kind of weird. Normally when you’re in a city like Paris or New York, if somebody’s smiling, he’s either a lunatic, a tourist, or just about to drag you over the coals. For so many years, I’ve taken it as a challenge to eke out a nanosecond glimmer from a grumpy Parisian waiter or shop keeper. It often resembles much the sort of smile you can see on Rodin’s bemused Monsieur Balzac or the vacant, dazed smiles of Carpeaux’s The Dance models. I like that kind of smile - filled with questions as opposed to the dazzling Disneyesque, “Am I not wonderful?”
Parisian for a Day
When it comes to automobiles, the Italians are world-famous for making cars sexy and sleek, and the Germans are well-known for their precision engineering. French car-makers, on the other hand, are primarily known for their inability make cars that anyone outside France would want to buy - and the Citroen 2CV is a perfect example.
Two days open-air music festival of ska, reggae, punk and rock will be held on the beach of D¾bán water reservoir from Friday, to Saturday, , 2008. And there are prepared many music bands from whole world to make the right atmosphere. It will be for example (USA), (NL) or (CZ). You can get there from subway station Dejvická by tram, and it is near the airport as well (Divoká ©árka stop).