Bastille Day - 14 juillet

Today, the 14th July, is the French National Holiday (la fête nationale française), which we call Bastille Day.

Here's a video of the fireworks display in Carcassonne 2012.



It is very good footage (only 2 minutes to give you a taste) but nothing like being there in person with the beautiful colors, the sounds of the rockets taking off, the percussion of the soundwaves striking your body, the oohs and ahs of the crowd... Good stuff. The French can really put on a show :)

We will definitely be having Pastis for our sundowner this evening.

So it goes... Whoosh... Whee... Bang... Pop-a-dee-pop-a-dee-pop... Vive La France!

Enjoy Bastille Day this Weekend

This morning we received our weekly newsletter from Carcassonne France and it had a bit about their celebrations for the Fête Nationale on quatorze juillet (14 July, Bastille Day).

For those of you who will not be in attendance this year, here is a video from 14 July 2012. It is very good footage but nothing like being there in person with the beautiful colors, the sounds of the rockets taking off, the percussion of the soundwaves striking your body, the oohs and ahs of the crowd... Good stuff. The French can really put on a show :)

This video is from the producers of firework spectacles, Ruggieri.

Looks like a pretty interesting program...

Feu d'artifice et embrasement de la Cité Médiévale

Dimanche 14 Juillet à 22h30 - aux alentours des berges de l'Aude

«Féériques émotions, la Cité dans tous ses états» est le nouveau spectacle de plus de 25mn que la ville de Carcassonne vous propose. Chaque acte du feu sera la métaphore d'une émotion. La mise en scène sera une sorte de pièce de théâtre en plein air ou chaque artifice jouera un rôle précis à travers sa sonorité, ses formes, ses couleurs, son cadencement, son ampleur et sa puissance.

«Féériques émotions, la Cité dans tous ses états » est une épopée colorée et cadencée autour de nos émotions de base.

7 grandes parties : 1 prologue aux couleurs de la république et 6 actes sur le thème des émotions.

Prologue : date du 14 juillet et tradition oblige les artificiers réaliseront un grand tableau républicain bleu blanc et rouge avant d'entamer la scénographie sur le thème des émotions. Ensuite, le spectacle s'orchestrera en tableaux structurés autour de 6 grands actes progressifs :
1. La peur, l'angoisse (fear, anxiety)
2. L'amour, le désir (love, desire)
3. La colère, la fureur (anger, fury)
4. La tristesse, la mélancolie (sadness, melancholy)
5. Le rire, la joie (laughter, joy)
6. La surprise, l'émerveillement (surprise, wonder)

We will be on our boat in Saint Croix (at least it has a French name!) and we will be raising a glass or two of pastis over the weekend while listening to Radio Nostalgie on our TuneIn Radio android app.

Hey, there's always next year... Contact Paradise Connections to book your barging vacation! Visit their website.

Bonne fête

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Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

Happy Bastille Day !!!

We usually have some tasty French treats for the 14th such as baguettes; brie, chevre and other cheeses; various patés; pastis... Well, good thing we still have some pastis on board as there's not much in the way of French products to be found on St Croix.

The folks over at Serious Eats has a "Bastille Day Recipe Round Up" article. Oh wow... I haven't thought about Chouquettes for a long, long time... I WANT SOME... NOW!!!

The Google logo for today on their French www.google.fr page is festive...

Here's some French music you might like to check out. I was trying to do an A-Z thing...

Antoine, Charles Aznavour, Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, Patrick Bruel, Maurice Chevalier, Mylène Farmer, Claude François, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday, Indochine, Kassav, Claudine Longet, Eddy Mitchell, Vanessa Paradis, Édith Piaf, Sheila, Téléphone, Zouzou.

We should watch a French film tonight... Perhaps Amélie or The Professional ... I'm leaning towards Jean Reno. We used to see him from time to time shopping at the supermarket at Saint-Germain-En-Laye.

Ainsi va la vie...

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