Paris on La Fete Nationale (14 July) - Suggestions?

I have never been in Paris on the 14th, so I can't speak from experience. But I've been told by friends who have been there, Paris firehouses all open their doors with various festivities for the holiday. I've heard it's a blast.

Sherry:

We did this with the kids in 2004 (they were 13 and 8 at the time). It was amazing. It seemed as if all of Paris was in the streets having fun.

I would recommend getting to the Champs du Mars as early as you can - it really fills up.

Also, after the fireworks the Metro really fills up (I mean rush hour time two - or worse). Make sure to stay together. The squish of people is unbelievable.

The kids still talk about how great that experience was.

Have fun.

Thanks Jon! The good news is that we are staying on Rue Cler, so we won't have to fight the crowds in the metro. We also plan on arriving with a picnic dinner around 8:00pm - so hopefully we can find a decent place to hang out for a few hours.

You can always watch the Bastille Day parade along with a hundred thousand other spectators. The parade starts around 10:00 am but you should be on the ave de Champs Elyssee a few hours before then to get a good spot. I was there in 1998 and this is what I learned: the complete parade does not go from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. No, the troops and tanks are lined up along the street and travel from their location to the end (Place de la Concorde). The best place to view the entire parade in between the presidential palace and the Place de la Concorde. If you are viewing near the Arc de Triomphe, as I did, you will miss the foot soldiers and will only see the vehicles. The parade lasts about one hour.

Hello Sherry,

We were there with our 3 children this past July, including the 14th. We went to the parade in the morning which was very crowded - about 6 people deep every inch of curb. If you are not over 6' tall or one of the people near the front, you will not see much. Also, bear in mind that the "parade" includes (what seems like) every piece of military hardware in France, along with every giant deisel engine, and it moves v....e.....r.....y s...l....o.....w......l.......y This is not the happy float-filled juggling clown parade of your imagination. There is not a smile in sight. But it certainly is an event.

If you don't show up for the fireworks until 8PM you might as well just stay on Rue Cler and find a rooftop. The grassy area of the Champs de Mars was full by 4PM with concert goers (rock concert with the stage near the tower). We showed up with a picnic diner at about 6PM and could only find one of the gravel areas off to the side. The view of the fireworks was still fine there though. By 8PM the gravel area was full, too.

The fireworks were amazing - absolutely worth the trouble.

When it was over, we had intended to ride the Metro back to our apartment by Notre Dame but all stations nearby were closed. I think they simply wanted to avoid the rediculous crush of people underground. So we began walking along the Seine, the three miles home and that turned out to be my favorite memory of Paris. The weather was great. The city was lit up. There were so many people out that there was no danger of trouble even at midnight, and we were so pumped from the fun evening that we were not tired at all.

Enjoy!

no actual experience yet, just sharing plans. We will be arriving by night train the same morning, with same age kids. Our thoughts are to use this first day just to walk and get oriented, maybe use the Batobus from the west end back towards Gare de Lyon when our feet give out, have a lovely bistro lunch in Place d'Italie, then leave town around 3:00 for our accommodations outside Paris. I decided not to try to get inside any museums or "do" anything formal since it will be so crowded. I had thought we would go to the parade, but based on the description here, I think we'll skip it. Then a few days later, we'll get the six-day museum pass and start the forced march! I'd love to hear more about your plans, Sherry.

The parade was not on my list, I figured that although it would be very interesting, it wouldn't be worth the crowds etc.

Thank you so much for the tip on getting to Champ de' Mars earlier than I planned on. Seeing the fireworks would be wonderful and I figured I can take a nap on a blanket on the grass for a few extra hours (smile) to make sure we have a comfortable place.

For earlier that day: The Louvre is free that day - so I am staying away as I figure the crowds will be unbearable. I also figure that keeping away from Champs-Elysees would be smart as there will be crowds there. So, we are shooting for the Catacombs. The back story here is that I gave my son the choice to pick what he wanted to see and he only gave me two things. The Mona Lisa and the Catacombs. I checked the website and the Catacombs are open that day and since they are off the beaten path, I figured they should be fairly safe.

Then we should probably go back to the hotel, prepare for a long day at Champ de' Mars and purchase some food on Rue Cler.

Thanks for the information everyone!

Sherry:

Since you have decided to not watch the Bastille Day parade I won't belabor the point, but if you are curious about it I will be happy to send you, and anyone else for that matter, a DVD of the complete parade which I recorded off of French language TV-5 Monde (a premium cable channel in the USA). I am always interested in seeing the gender and racial makeup of the troops particularly the cadets from the elite military schools. For example, I was surprised to see women in the paratroop units. Just send me an email with your mailing address if you are interested.

What I want to do is elaborate on Randy's comments. From what I understand the Metro stations close at around 12:30 am even on Bastille Day (actually the day after). You would think that on a national holiday, particularly one in summer, they would keep the Metro running late (e.g., BART in the San Francisco Bay area), but nooo! I too, had to walk back from the Trocadero area, from where I watched the fireworks, back to my hotel near Notre Dame. It was one of the most exciting walks in my life - people all over the place celebrating Bastille Day. On the way back to the hotel I purchased food from street vendors since I had not eaten anything since that morning. I noticed that there were many people who sat down around Pont Alma to watch the fireworks.

The firehouse dances take place, I believe, the evening before July 14; these should be fun though I am not sure whether they are suited for kids in their early teens.

Between the parade and the fireworks I spent much time at Sacre Coeur (sp??) and walked around the neighborhood.

Have fun on the 14th.

George

The fireworks show is one of our best memories of Paris. The grassy area does get really crowded, everyone brings picnics and wine to drink. We were quite far back in the park, but did find a little bit of grass to sit on, even though we got there about 20:00. Since it doesn't get dark until very late, the fireworks didn't begin until 23:00.

We saw a bit of the parade, it wasn't something we would go do again.

Geor, why gender and racial make-up in the elite corp a surprise?

Jo:

Good question. I was surprised to see women in paratroop units in the French military because I have never seen women paratroopers in the USA military. This is because there is, to the best of my knowledge, nothing comparable in the USA to the Bastille Day parade where you will see scores of military units march by. I have never seen photographs or videos of the contemporary 82nd Airborne though I have been informed that there are women in that unit.

As far as the military academies are concerned it is great to see that the marching units have a good mix of women and ethnic minorities. Again, it is probably similar to West Point but, again, I have never seen West Pointers march in a parade (does any large city hold a military focused parade on July 4 these days) and I don't watch the Army vs Navy football game so I don't know the demographics.

George