Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Bastille Day
just got better and better as the day went on. We watched the
Tour de France, which was boring from a sports point of view, but the scenery
was lovely. Our friend’s nephew,
Christian Vande Velde, remains in 8th place overall, which is
quite good! That cute Englishman, Mark
Cavendish, won the stage yesterday.
And of course, the formidable Lance Armstrong remains in third place,
lurking, making everyone wonder when he will make his move. In the evening,
we could hear the traffic building in the streets below as people came from
everywhere, looking for a place to park so they could walk to the Champ de
Mars to hear Johnny Hallyday and to see the Bastille Day fireworks. I was
surprised at how well-behaved the drivers were. There was very little in the way of irate
honking of horns. Few restaurants
are open on Bastille Day, so we set our sights pretty low, just wishing to
get edible food where we could watch the throngs making their way to the
Champ. First we
checked the simple little Italian place down the street on the rue du Theatre. I cannot remember its name now. It has several tables on the sidewalk, and
several tables inside. It was open,
and as we stood outside looking at the menu, we were greeted in a friendly
manner. But we decided that all the
tables were just too close to the exhaust from the cars idling in the slow
traffic. So we went
around the corner, onto avenue Emile Zola, and entered Le Tipaza, a North
African resto with elaborate molded plaster and ceramic tile
decorations. The interior of Le Tipaza
is deeper – a full-size dining room – so we were separated from the auto
exhaust a bit more than we’d have been at the Italian place. Besides
couscous and tagines, the North African restaurants are good at grilled
meats. Tom ordered the filet mignon,
and it was tasty, tender enough, and cooked just right. He ordered it with Bearnaise sauce, which
also looked good. I could not
believe it! Le Tipaza has sole meuniere on the menu now! And it is only 20 euros. It seemed too good to be true. Well, it is. The fish was not really sole meuniere; it turned out to be simply a nice, lightly fried
fish, which was fine. After dinner,
as the sun was low on the horizon, we went for a stroll with the masses up to
the Pont de Grenelle which leads to the end of the Allée des Cygnes, where
the replica of the Statue of Liberty stands. Lots of other
people were going that way, too, in hopes of finding a good place to watch
the fireworks. Last year, that was a
viable option. But every year, the
bureaucrats change the plan. When we reached
the Seine, our way was cordoned off, and a policeman informed us that for
security reasons, we could not use that bridge. We’d have to find another bridge, he said. The police had the
paddy wagons and other emergency vehicles parked all along the bridge, ready
to spring into action if necessary during the celebrations. It didn’t
really matter to us, because we were planning to return to the apartment
anyway to watch the fireworks. We
didn’t care much about missing Johnny Hallyday’s concert, although I bet he
has nothing but the best for back-up musicians. We arrived home
at about 10:20, in plenty of time for the 10:45 start of the fireworks. Usually we
watch from the kitchen window. But
this time, I moved the shower curtain aside and we opened the big French
window in the bathroom. We both stood
in the bathtub to watch the show. It was
spectacular. For the first time, many
fireworks were shot directly from the top and sides of the Eiffel Tower. We had a great spot to watch those. I think it was
the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen.
And the weather was perfect. The throngs of
people going back to their cars were very well behaved. We did hear a few drunks, but not many,
considering. And this morning, there
are no signs of vandalism or litter on the street. |
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The
Eiffel Tower may look small here, but it looked grand last night during the
fireworks. I didn’t even try to take
photos of the fireworks this year because the photos never do the fireworks
justice. (The white rectangle is some
of the equipment being set up for the Hallyday concert.)
The
top of the bandstand gazebo in the Place du Commerce park. I’d love to hear a concert there, but there
aren’t many, and as far as I can tell, there are none in the summer. The most recent one was in early June,
before we arrived.
The
park at the Place du Commerce is well equipped, with a ping pong table, fresh
water spigot, and receptacles for both trash and recycling. Also in the park are beautiful chestnut
trees, a boules court, and a playground for the little ones. |
