Bastille Day

 "Everybody knows La Fete Nationale is every July 14th." my friend explains to me as I thought it was the same weekend as our U.S. 4th of July, I told him as I strolled along the Champs Elysees watching bleacher and flags being set up a few days prior to the celebrations.

Bastille Day (referred to as La Fête de la Bastille or La Fête Nationale in French), is a French holiday which marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 and the first major event of the French Revolution.

The day begins early with the oldest and largest military parade in Europe, on the Champs Elysees.

 The French Revolution

At the Place de la Bastille where the French Revolution began on July 14, 1789 a huge concert takes place. (There's only a small plaque on a wall just outside the metro Bastille that marks the prison location.)

In the evening, the Paris Fire Brigade (Fire Fighters) hold their traditional Bastille Day ball.