Tuesday, July 15, 2008

This weekend


We had a fun Bastille day weekend in the village. It started with fireworks on Saturday night, and on Sunday they set up the tent in the village square and there was a buffet dinner, music and dancing all night.








We always have melon with port wine to start with - it's really good. You take a nice ripe cantaloupe melon, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and pour a little port wine into the center.
That's it! (How easy can you get?)
The music was very disco - there were lights strung in the tree. The next morning, we watched the parade on TV (the one on the Champs Elysee) and as always, the sight of the jet planes flying over the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde gave me the chills. Jet planes, 2000 AD - obilisk, 3000 BC - five thousand years of history encompassed in one glance.
Ingrid Bettancourt got a medal from Sarkozy, and there were speeches, picnics, and sunshine. A very lovely weekend. I think I had too much wine, (as usual, on Bastille Day, everyone is toasting something) and I definitely had too much ice-cream. I didn't need that second vanilla cone, but as my daughter's friend didn't want it, I guess someone had to eat it.
Auguste was in heaven, as we let him mingle with the crowd for a while. The next morning he jumped over the wall to 'help' the men put the tent away.
And that was it for Bastille day!

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Loved the comment about the 5000 years of history. Gave me a chill.

PJD said...

Sounds very pleasant. I was in the Place de la Concorde several years ago during a business trip, but I did not realize what the obelisk was. I just looked it up. Very interesting.