14th of July as a Parent | Our Experience for Bastille Day 2019
The French National Day that we call Bastille day and the French simply say 14 Juillet is one of the most spectacular events in France. It starts with a military parade and a fly over of jets creating the French flag in the sky, and finishes with fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
We have lived five Bastille Days since we moved to France - we were completely and absolutely unprepared for our first one! The sheer amount of people filling the streets to watch the breathtaking fireworks was intimidating and we didn’t find a good spot to even see the tower.
For the second and third - we camped out from very very early on Champs de Mars to grab a prime spot for the fireworks. The photos on this post are from that second time because we decided to use the space for the camera gear for more wine :D
Then, we became parents in May 2017. Fate threw us a surprise when Anastasia gave birth to Dante and she got one leg paralyzed for a few months. We were not prepared to even consider doing anything for that year’s celebrations. July 14th 2018 came and we decided Dante was still too young and would be a bit too crazy to force him.
Bastille Day 2019 was different because we were not limping around (yay) and Dante was old enough to enjoy the fun activities. We settled on trying the things we normally skipped the previous times and consider that Dante is a little bit hyperactive…so staying long in one single spot is veeeeeery difficult. What we came up with was a fun way to watch the planes fly-by over the city as part of the military parade, walk along the Seine while we waited for the helicopters’ fly-by and then go for lunch.
It worked like a charm. We watched both parts of the airshows from the bridges Pont Marie and Pont d’Arcole. The machines flew by right on top of us, so Dante was incredibly entertained watching them overhead <3 Obviously, in between the two parts of the airshow, Dante ran and played lots on the playgrounds along the way to Pont d’Arcole.
In all truth and honesty, it was a simple and mega successful morning out avoiding the crowds and still enjoying the airshow…you know, considering that Dante is a little bit extra challenging than other kids. Next year, we plan to let Dante watch the fireworks - we still have a long time to plan the logistics.
