Celebrating Bastille Day in Paris, France (La Fête nationale – Le quatorze juillet)

It’s not often that we’re back home in Canada to celebrate Canada Day; however, one of the benefits of travel is that sometimes we get opportunities to take part in National Day celebrations of other countries. While visiting Paris, France to shoot a city guide, we had such a chance. The French National Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille that took place on 14 July 1789. In English this day is called Bastille Day; however, in France it is known as La Fête nationale and/or Le quatorze juillet. To take part in the events of the day we went to the military parade, watched the impressive Eiffel Tower fireworks from the comfort of our hotel room on the 8th floor and went to party at a Fireman’s Ball. Out of the three things I’ve mentioned we had the chance to cover two of them. Come find out what we did and didn’t do on Bastille Day in Paris, France.

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The French National Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789

Celebrating Bastille Day in Paris, France (La Fête nationale – Le quatorze juillet) Travel Video Transcript:

Well good morning from Paris. Today is the fourteenth of July which is a major national holiday. Today actually commemorates the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution. So there is a lot to celebrate. We’re going to go watch a military parade and then there is going to be fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. And maybe we may be attending a Fireman’s Ball. So let’s get started with the day.

So they were handing out French flags just outside the metro station. So we’re all patriotic and ready to celebrate.

We definitely could have come a little bit earlier. Some people came really prepared. Check this out they’ve got step ladders. Oh, yeah.

So the metro is free today and it looks packed.

So what are we doing next? Well, we’re heading over to the fireman’s ball. We just finished watching the fireworks from the comfort of our apartment. It was awesome. We’re on the eighth floor of our hotel and we just had such a nice view right out of our window. We didn’t even have to go to the Eiffel Tower. We could sit here, relax and just watch it outside of our window.

Okay, so let’s go find that party now.

Yes.

So we are going in search of the fireman’s ball. Apparently there is one taking place in our neighborhood just two streets away. So we’re going to try to find it and see what it is like.

So the whole idea of these fireman’s balls in these different fire stations is to raise a lot of money for the fire station throughout the year. There is a lot of dancing, there is drinking, there is games, there is food. So we’re pretty excited about it.

So this is actually quite disappointing. Google has failed me. We looked at the address of fire stations that are supposedly having parties and here we are with a fire station right behind us. And there is no party tonight. There is just a fire truck pulling back into the station because they are working. Well 2 out of 3 isn’t bad? Yeah, so no party tonight guys. I guess we’re heading back to the hotel. And that is the end of Bastille Day.

This is part of our Travel in France series. We’re making a series of videos showcasing French culture, French arts, French foods, French religion, French cuisine and French people.

All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).

Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network