Claustrophobic. I am surrounded by people. Nearly shoulder to shoulder. I rode my bike to the Champs de Mars Park at the base of the Eiffel Tower to watch the Bastille day fireworks celebration. It feels like all of Paris, if not all of France, is here. I am half a mile from the tower, in the park. It is solid people for 500 meters on all sides of me and probably beyond, but I can't see that far. It is nearly dark. The orchestra has been playing since I got here an hour ago with opera singers, male and female entertaining the masses on jumbotron screens. The Eiffel Tower is brightly lit as the backdrop with the orchestra below. We know the crowd is awaiting the fireworks, but it is not quite dark yet. The crowd is lively, but orderly. No one is really listening to the concert. Most everyone is chatting to the person next to them. It is about 75° and perfectly clear. A gorgeous summer night.
I have a train to catch at 7:23 am tomorrow morning. Before I can board it I have to ride a mile carrying my bike boxes, disassemble the bikes and box them and load them on the train. We plan to rise at 4:45 am, be on our bikes by 5:30 am, to the train by 6:00 am and have the bikes boxed before 7:00 am, ready to load. We won't know what platform our train leaves from until 20 minutes before departure, so I have castors mounted on the underside of the boxes so I can wheel both boxes at the same time to the train. I'll let you know how it goes in tomorrow's post.
Sally and I rose about 7:00 am this morning and mounted our bikes for a ride thru the city. Traffic is light early in the morning, and with it being Bastille day, many must be off work, because the tragic is light. The gendermie and military have the streets closed off in preparation for today's parade and other activities. We were turned around a few times by Uzi toting uniformed men. A stop for pastries at the local bakery for breakfast and we were back by 8:45 am to find the kids up and alive.
We had been mixing expenses while traveling together. This morning we spent an hour on Andy's computer sorting out who owes who. With the books balanced, we headed for the Montmartre area, the bohemian enclave on the hill north of town where Toulous LeTtec, Van Gogh and other pioneering impressionists hung out. Between waiting for bathrooms, touring chocolate shops and sitting down for a baguette and cheese, it was 2:30 pm before we used the metro to get us to the Rodin Museum.
The line outside the Rodin Museum was a block long and a dread of standing in line for hours overtook us. But, we asked at the front door and were immediately invited in, ahead of the whole line. Museum passes. If you ever travel to Paris, get a museum pass. It lessens the cost of seeing multiple museums and allows you to bypass the people purchasing tickets.
I had no idea of the magnitude of Rodin's work! 6500 sculptures. About the same number of drawings, plus others. He donated all his work and his home to the state of France in 1917, during the war and the state accepted in 1919. It has been a museum ever since. I had seen the "Gates of Hell" sculpture at Stanford years ago, but without context it meant little to me. Here, at the place of its conception, it took on magical dimensions. We toured the grounds and the temporary exhibition (his house is closed for renovation), stopping to admire "The Thinker" and other works. Very impressive.
We walked down the street to see Napoleons Tomb. Being Bastille day, it was open to the public for free. At this point we separated. Andy and Tabitha headed for the Eiffel Tower to be in good position to watch the fireworks tonight. Sally, Jeff, Jackie and I headed back to our room to rest, find a place for dinner, and pack, as we each are leaving Paris tomorrow.
We headed for Chinese food but found it closed so we settled for pizza. On the walk back to our room we stopped for a pop and some vegetables.
Sally, Jeff and Jackie decided to stay in the rest of the evening and get some sleep before our travel day tomorrow. I decided to ride over to the Eiffel Tower and join in the festivities. The ride across town is about 4 miles, and with no obstructing traffic it went quickly. I was hoping to locate myself at the far end of the Champs de Mars do a full view of the tower, but the density of people forced me into the middle of the park. I could not reach the open ground I the middle as it was packed with people, so I settled for my somewhat tree obstructed view.
The fireworks began at 11:00 pm. They were spectacular!! The show lasted a half an hour, set to music, both fast and slow, modern and classical. But, throughout it all the fireworks kept on coming, blasting from the base, but also from all over the length of the tower. It was remarkable. Most impressive show I have ever seen. I recorded about 10-15 minutes of it on my phone. Amazing.
At 11:30 pm the show ended and the gigantic crowd began to disperse. I have never been in a crowd that big before. At first, all you could do was walk in the same direction as the crowd flowed. After a few minutes, as the surface area of the expanding circle of people, growing at the square of the increase of the radius, allied the crowd to spread out a bit. At some point it became dispersed enough hat I could begin to ride my bike. As my speed increased I began to outdistance the crowd and was soon pumping along at full speed. I have was back at our flat by 12:15 am and ready to sleep, as soon as my adrenaline calmed down. Andy and Tabitha soon texted, stating they were working their way back on foot. During the fireworks the texting did not work due to the jammed cell lines. They got in around 1:00 am. By this time Jackie was feeling very sick and started to throw up. We situated her down on the couch close to the bathroom and I think we settled in to sleep about 2:00 am with our alarms set for 4:30 am. What a day!
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