It's Bastille Day
 

Happy/Merry/Bon Bastille Day.

We are going to a French restaurant here in San Francisco to celebrate tonight. My friend, who has gone there before for Bastille Day, is going with us, and said that it is a lively evening with an accordinist, good humor and good food.

Nina

I'm jealous!

Doesn't havening traveled to these places make their major events so much more meaningful?


Happy Bastille day! =)

Who defined a gentleman as someone who can play the accordion - but doesn't?

My first trip to France happened to be on Bastille Day. That wasn't planned, just lucky. Wish I were there today.

Happy Bastille Day to our good French friends!!

Vive le France!!

Living in Ottawa, does have a good advantage, there is a nice large French embassy and this afternoon we will be going to the reception for the 14 juillet.

I would prefer a little guinguette au bord de l'eau anywhere in France or better yet un bal des pompiers on rue de Sévigné but a least we have a nice consolation price.

Joyeux 14 juillet à tous les francophiles.

&quot;<i>Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arriv&eacute;!</i>&quot; Happy Bastille Day to all! Enjoy some good French food today, to celebrate!

On my first trip to France (OK, it was 46 years ago), I took a train up to Paris for Bastille Day, to watch the big parade down the <i>Champs-&Eacute;lys&eacute;es</i> (street vendors sold cardboard periscopes with a pair of mirrors, in case you couldn't get close enough).

But my best Bastille Day was at a Club Med in Martinique, with Margie, on our honeymoon back in 1970. There was an all-day festival, starting with a parade through the village, with the G.O.'s (the <i>gentils organizateurs</i>, that is, the staff) playing the roles of typical citizens of a small French town (the firemen, the baker, the butcher, the town prostitutes, etc.). The parade wound down to the <i>Caf&eacute; du Port</i>, where the <i>Chef du village</i>, playing the mayor, gave a long and pompous speech dedicating a new structure below him on the plaza. When unveiled, it proved to be a <i>pissoir</i> (the sort of French outdoor urinal that used to be common in Paris).

The day then turned into one long feast, including conical trees of lobster tails, and a table centerpiece of roast suckling pigs, posed on the table standing on their hind legs (one was playing a small violin, and another had a <i>Gauloise</i> cigarette in his mouth). Later in the meal, the pigs were sliced, and proved to have been boned and stuffed with <i>pat&eacute;s</i> of different colors, forming a <i>fleur-de-lis</i> pattern.

Planter's Punch flowed freely. Locals from a nearby town came in a boat, and hovered off-shore to watch the crazy Frenchmen carrying on. A reveler swam out to the boat, sidestroke, carrying a tray of Planter's Punch, and offered it to our visitors. They thanked him, drank the punch, and rinsed the glasses in the water before putting them back on the tray, which he swam out to pick up.

There was a grand party in the evening, and fireworks, of course.

So find a way to celebrate Bastille Day today!

- Larry

&lt;&lt;&lt; Locals from a nearby town came in a boat, and hovered off-shore to watch the crazy Frenchmen&lt;&lt;&lt;
Justretired, did you realize that the locals were frenchmen too ?

norween, you're right, of course. Thanks for the reminder: Martinique is a <i>d&eacute;partement</i> of France, and as such, is just as much a part of France as Paris.

French Francs were the local currency back then. Does that mean that in Martinique, the Euro is now used? (I haven't been there in a long time).

- Larry

Just one comment. I have never met a French person who referred to 'Bastille Day.' Here it's either just le quatorze juillet, or la fete nationale.

Bonne fete.

Nina--

You are going to the Jeanne d'Arc? We'll be there too.

This is our favorite SF restaurant.

www.cornellhotel.com

Neither have i heard any french person refering to 'Bastille day', just to 'fete nationale' (national day) or 'quatorze juillet'
And there is even an ongoing discussion about what is celebrated : the Bastille storming (14/07/1789) or the constition proclaiming (14/07/1780)

(and yes, Martinique uses the Euro now)

RonZ - yes Jeanne D'Arc at 8:00PM. Let's do a mini GTG and toast France and the other Fodor Francophiles. Check your email for my email address if we be there at the same time.

DH used to work for French company Thompson CSF and every year they had a wonderful Bastille Day party and the office was closed. We celebrated in grand French style, with wonderful food and wine.

Nina

Could someone who is proficient in French please phonetically spell out &quot;14&quot; in French? One of my bosses is French, and I'd like to say &quot;Joyeux 14 juillet&quot; to him - and I just can't remember how to say &quot;14.&quot;

Thank you.

Quatorze

it's my anniversary, too. 16 years!

vive france!

Thank you, Robespierre.

And....happy anniversary and many more, Melissa19.

For the pronunciation : ka-TORSS

I watched the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower this afternoon at www.abcparislive.com. They looked beautiful. Wish I could have seen it in person! Oh, well, September is just around the corner, isn't it?

RonZ and I had dinner at the Jeanne D'Arc last night --- at separate tables and with separate spouses! Gentleman that he is, he came to our table and introduced himself.

The French owner of the restaurant, from Orleans, and a former teacher at Alliance Francaise in San Francisco, stood on a chair twice during the evening and amongst other things wished, the mainly French diners - a &quot;Happy Bastille Day&quot;. So I guess that _some_ French people do say that. Of course if he had been in France last night, he would have said it in French.

It doesn't matter how it is phrased, it's the meaning behind it. A good time was had by all.

Nina

Yes, it was a great dinner and a pleasure to meet Nina, who is quite charming.

This was the fortieth year that Mr Lambert has hosted the Bastille Day dinner. He told us that he may give in to his wife's requests that he retire--a tragedy indeed!

For anyone traveling to SF, keep this gem of a hotel in mind.