Happy Bastille Day

On this day, Quatorze Juillet, the French remember the storming of the Bastille, which the kings of France occasionally used to house political prisoners. In 1789, however, the Bastille held only seven people, including four check forgers. Furthermore, the Revolution was a revolting failure, leading to almost a century of discord, executions, unrest, and flip-flopping among kings, emperors and republics. This, however, does not temper the enthusiasm of the Republic of France, although they have yet to discover the joys of grilling hamburgers (or, depending on where you're from, frying chicken, making cornbread, and eating watermelon) on their equivalent of Independence Day.

Nonetheless, this American decided to head out and see the sights on the quatorze, including the "military" parade, which headed down Rue Royal toward Madeleine, half a block from where I live, and the fireworks show at the Tour Eiffel.

And as if the French military wasn't already the butt of hundreds of American jokes (1. Why do the French line their streets with trees? So the Germans can march in the shade. 2. What is the most successful French wartime industry? The manufacture of white flags. 3. How many gears do French tanks have? Five: one forward and four reverse, etc.), I must let it be known that, instead of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, the French have about 80 branches of service, including sailors who wear cream puff hats with red balls on top, a regiment with berets that drape to their shoulders and knee britches, and what is apparently a lumberjack corps, full of men who wear leather aprons, carry axes, and all wear full beards.

The flyovers by the French air force were considerably less laughable, since they buy quite a few of their jets (many of them F-16s) from us. I was able to snap a picture of a flight of fighters and a passenger jet directly over the British embassy on Rue Faubourg Saint-Honore. The rest of the pictures I took right at the end of Rue Duphot, making mine a very easy walk.

At the end of the parade, I also saw what I consider to be perhaps the best looking motorcycle ever made by god or man. The new Triumph Sprint ST, a 1050 cc triple sport tourer that was just redesigned. This was the first I've seen in real life, and in the states, they are only available in silver or blue. When I get back to L.A., I am seriously considering trading in my junk and buying one straight out.