Bastille day is arguably the biggest holiday in France. It marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille which lead to the birth of the modern French nation. On Friday, there were fireworks about 2 minutes from our apartment in Levallois. In fact, it was a surprisingly good fireworks display (the best I’ve seen for a “suburb” for sure). However, it was the “big” fireworks the following evening at the Eiffel Tower that were particularly impressive. Prior to the show, there were hours of free concerts including Victoria’s own Nelly Furtado (which, unfortunately, we missed by just a few minutes). Following the concerts, just around dusk, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with lights and fireworks which lasted over half an hour. It was great. For me, it was particularly cool that they played the music from Star Wars during part of the fireworks - as a child, I couldn’t have imagined hearing Star Wars and watching fireworks under the beautiful setting of the Eiffel Tower. Impressive. In total, there were around 1/2 million people watching the fireworks.
Another highlight for me was that I was able to find a nice spot to set up my tripod and get some pretty good shots. Right next to me were some professional photographers, so I even got some free tips!