Bastille Day! I was pretty excited to experience this Fête Nationale for myself after learning about it in French at school, little did I know just how big the day would be. I met up with some other au pairs to watch the military parade on the Champs Élysées in the morning, which was quite amazing with so many tanks, trucks, motorcycles, soldiers, police officers and aeroplanes. There was a lot of waiting (this would become the theme of the day) but I got a good look at the President as he went past, there were some singing soldiers which I found hilarious and the air display with all different sorts of aeroplanes was really good too. After the parade we headed to the Eiffel Tower for a lovely picnic and some wine on a patch of grass nearby. There was a free concert on the Champs de Mars for the evening followed by fireworks, so we stood/sat for three hours to wait for the concert (along with over a million other people) Beyoncé was rumoured to be performing, which would have been pretty amazing but alas, she didn't show. The concert was really good though, I had even heard some of the French songs before :) Two children probably about nine years old performed Michael Jackson songs and it was so funny hearing French accents singing along! The fireworks were incredible - thirty minutes of the most well known songs from various musicals with the fireworks in time with the music. I practically spent the entire time just staring with my mouth wide open because it was so spectacular, the rest of the time I was laughing at the American girls standing in front of us who weren't doing any favour for the steryotype of the typical American, screeching with delight (one of them even cried because it was so beautiful....) After the fireworks it was madness trying to get to the metro station, it was quite funny seeing the people in cars who were trying to drive down the streets stuck in their cars because of the sea of people, but then stopped being funny once we were squished like sardines at the entrance to the metro, where we remained for over an hour. What would normally be a thirty minute trip for me took over three hours - having not eaten since the small picnic at lunch time, the waffle from a vending machine at two in the morning was devoured instantly!
Reflecting back on the entire day, it was amazing and a once in a lifetime experience (literally, I don't think I could put myself through it again!) And Friday with two tired children and a very tired au pair, involved a lot of coffee and a very early night for all!!