I am with my host family in Paris for the week of the 14th of July! Anything to avoid? Any must sees?!
I am pretty sure that your host family will have many things planned for you to see and do. I would not worry about it too much. They will want you to have a good time. The 14th is a lot of fun, you will love it!
I agree that your host family will be your best resource, and here are a few good Bastille Day ideas for visitors…
Go to the Champs-Elysees for the morning parade. Window shop and people watch afterward. Purchase picnic supplies on Rue Cler and head to the Parc du Champ de Mars at the Eiffel Tower for a late picnic lunch. Climb up the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon. Have dinner in a brasserie/café. Take a river cruise. Catch the fireworks that night – unbelievable show.
You will have a great time on "le quatorzième juillet".Although Paris will be completely packed, it's a wonderful and exciting place to celebrate. When we were there last year, there was a 2 hour wait just to buy tickets to go up the Eiffel Tour and the wait to go up went on forever. (we skipped the tower).
Ha Ha.. the wait for the Eiffel Tower is often two hours in the summer, never mind what day it is..
"Perry" persists in coming to this site with sole purpose to advertise "Tom's Guide to Paris" - regardless of the question.
In nearly two years of participating on this site, I have not seen "Perry" post original perspective.
I don't think Perry has a commercial interest in the website - and Tom doesn't advertise. I don't think "Perry" is really "Tom". "Perry" just seems to have an obsessive enthusiasm for this one single blog that he portrays as the encyclopedic resource for Paris. It's a nice personal website. It's just not the answer for every question.
Just to be sure, I used Google's advanced search function to search "Bastille Day" within Tom's website. Not a single mention.
So, once again, "Perry"'s advice is a mindless reflex to any question asked about Paris.
I have just been perplexed why one person would consistently come to one travel forum just to say all the answers are on another website.