Fête Nationale
Military Parade!
Picnic!
Rock Concert!
Fireworks!
About Me
- Tokyo Tintin
- "Whereas the tourist generally hurries back at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than the next, moves slowly, over a period of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he felt the most at home." Paul Bowles — The Sheltering Sky
3 comments:
I'm not into parades even if they are full of hot men....well maybe...but I'm not into hot men holding guns! Regardless of that the concert looks amazing!
I have to say that the military parade gave me a very weird feeling. With a hundred tanks barrelling down the Champs Élysées and helicopters flying overhead, I couldn’t help but feel like the city was being sieged. Given France’s history of military occupation in the 1940s, you’d think that people wouldn’t be into that kind of thing, but everyone clapped and cheered as the killing-machines rolled past.
I also found it strange that for fête nationale, people were not in any way patriotic. There were no people with painted faces waving little French flags. No one sang when then national anthem was played. Since people are so proud of French history, culture, art, cuisine, I just assumed that fête nationale would be another opportunity to point out “We’re #1!” Instead, people seemed mildly embarrassed about the whole thing.
A land of contradictions!
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense (at any rate, here's my take). The French want everyone ELSE to recognise that they're tops. Waving French flags, singing the anthem, and yelling "we're number 1" would seem just so crass, cheesy and (in a word) American. If you had to do that, it would imply that you weren't SURE that your world-famous culture, cuisine, yata yata, are universally recognised and speak for themselves :)
Post a Comment