Bonne Fete Nationale

For some time, I have been looking forward to spending Bastille Day (July 14) in France and it turned out to be a fairly eventful day. First, don't call it Bastille Day. It is the Fete Nationale, and when I would say Happy Bastille Day to friends here, I would get confused looks. So say "Bonne Fete Nationale" instead.

Second, for the day that is essentially equivalent to our 4th of July,the disparity in the public displays of patriotism is striking. To blend in on July 14, I wore 2 of the tricolors of the French flag and found I was wearing 2 more than most people (whereas I would have been one short in America). I saw some buses flying the French flag as they went past, which was unusual, but they also had a European Union flag. I suppose the one nod to nationalism was the annual military parade down the Champs Elysees in the morning. This was a little jarring to an American who generally associates military parades (at least of the post-WWII variety) with the Soviets.

In the evening, there was a free pop concert on the Champ de Mars –the large park extending southeast from the Eiffel Tower. According to the next morning's paper, I attended with 700,000 of my closest friends (and, picking up on a point from above, I only saw one French flag in the crowd). I had never been part of a crowd that large, but it was not as bad as it sounds. Sure, there was a group of 16 year olds mixing screwdrivers next to me, but they were entertaining. I feared how bad the Metro would be going home, and while I did have to wait for several trains packed liked sardines to pass before I could get on a train (and be similarly confined), I was home in one hour, which was certainly good under the circumstances.

As for the concert itself, it wasn't exactly Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park, but it was a decent show. I had only heard of one of the acts before – James Blunt. The rest were French pop singers. I found it a little weird that on what is essentially French Independence Day, we would be treated to some depressing James Blunt songs about how everyone is getting older, sung in English. He must have thought that was weird too, because he did sing one verse of a French pop standard (while reading the lyrics off a page). The crowd gave him the second loudest ovation of the concert, probably because they didn't know who most of the French pop singers were either. If only Johnny Halliday were there. The loudest ovation went to a Joey Lawrence look-a-like who was very popular with the female contingent of my screwdriver aficionado neighbors.

Being ¼ mile from the stage, and watching the acts on big screens gave the impression that everyone was lip synching, and at least some of them surely were. Of course, I would too if I were performing in front of 700,000 people. The lyrics were imposed on giant TV screens, karaoke style, which led to some amusing mistranslations of English lyrics. For example, there was a French rendition of the song from Hair, "Let the Sunshine In", which when the chorus was sung once in English, became "Let the Sun Shining," which does make some weird phonetic sense. The final act was a singer who appeared to be from the 60s (or at least in his 60s) and he sang a medley that concluded with Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman." Again, not exactly what I was expecting at the Fete Nationale.

Then came the fireworks, which is what I had really come for. With the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop, there was a 45 minute display. Every year, there is a theme (needless to say, I'd never seen a themed fireworks display anywhere else), and as this is the 400th birth-year of Quebec, it began with the music of a Quebecois folk tune broadcast over loudspeakers and a lot of blue fireworks. Then it changed into about 35 minutes of opera music (one verse of Le Marseillaise was sung somewhere in the middle). Seeing 700,000 people listen to over a half hour of opera music is unusual. Sure, it was set to fireworks and it was pop opera (Barcarolle, Summertime, Nessun Dorma), but still. All in all, an impressive show, and my faith in Paris public transportation was again confirmed by the relatively easy ride home.