The Paris Games, Part Five: Wait what?

Posted on 22/07/2026 by Mayken

I don’t talk about politics on this blog, but the French President calling snap elections a few weeks ahead of the Olympics was on no one’s bingo card. As a result, we spent June in election mode, with voting taking place at the end of June and the beginning of July. This followed the European Parliament elections in early June.
Don’t ask.

The Assemblée Nationale – seat of the lower house of the French parliament

So here we are, with the world’s biggest sporting event about to begin, a host city full of disgruntled citizens who have just been forced to cast their votes and who only wish their summer vacation were already there.
But there are still a few more events coming first:

The Tour de France
The Tour is a huge annual event. It dominates French television for three weeks, even on rest days. This year, in order to avoid an overlap with the Olympics, the Tour started a week earlier than usual and finished for the first time ever far away from the capital, in Nice. (This should have scored with the disgruntled Parisians. Probably not, though.)

The 2024 Tour de France publicity cars in the Champagne region

The Tour de France racing past us in the Champagne

Bastille Day
July 14 is the French National holiday, with a big military parade and lots of flag-waving and fireworks. Nothing special to report there, but two days later the prime minister’s resignation was accepted. His government stayed on as caretaker government until all of Paris 2024 was concluded.

On July 17, the French mayor took a quick swim in the Seine, with dozens and dozens of journalists immortalizing her heroic feat. Talk about a political summer!

Promise, no more politics until September.

100 Posts on Letters from Paris!

Posted on 07/06/2022 by Mayken

This is my 100^th blog post!

To celebrate, I’ll go back to the beginning and share some fun facts of the Eiffel Tower.

The Tower takes its name from its architect, Gustave Eiffel.
Construction of the Tower took 2 years.
It was built for the World Fair of 1889, celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the French Revolution.
Originally 312m high, the Eiffel Tower was the highest building in the word l for 40 years.
The highest viewing platform, the upper level of the third floor, is at 279,11m, the highest observation platform in the European Union and the second-highest in Europe:
The antennas at the top of the tower are used for the transmission of radio and digital tv signals.

For the fireworks of the national holiday Bastille Day on July 14, the Eiffel tower is incorporated into the show.

July 14 in Paris

Posted on 13/07/2021 by Mayken

July 14 is the French national holiday, known in the English-speaking world as Bastille Day. The Bastille was a fort meant to defend the Porte Saint Antoine on the east side of the Charles V city wall, and it was stormed and taken by the people on July 14, 1789 and later demolished.
The Storming of the Bastille is commemorated on July 14 since 1880.

In Paris, the celebrations of the 14-juillet, as it is called in French, start on the night before with the Bal des pompiers (the fire-fighters ball) held in the city’s various fire stations. In other French towns, it is either the Bal des pompiers, or the Bal Populaire (the people’s ball), often organized just outside the local town hall. Some towns have their fireworks on July 13, others on July 14.

In Paris, the day begins with the famous parade on the Champs Élysées that is traditionally opened with a fly-over by the Patrouille de France in the national colors bleu-blanc-rouge.

Then the president descends the avenue, accompanied by the Garde Républicaine, and takes place on the platform installed on the place de la Concorde, where he watches the parade with the government, members of the national assembly and the senate, assorted dignitaries and guests.

The parade descends from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. It is composed of military units on foot, on various motorized vehicles, on horseback, and in the air. The Foreign Legion marches in last place because their step is slowest.
The loudest applause from the spectators along the avenue is always for the firefighters who close the parade with all their different vehicles, for the Paris firefighters are part of the military. (They were founded by Napoléon Bonaparte after a fire broke out during a reception at the Austrian Embassy in 1810 during which around a hundred people died.)

During the day, the public has the occasion to meet the military, notably on the Esplanade des Invalides between the Dome des Invalides and the Seine river, where l’Armée de Terre (the army), l’Armée de l’air (the air force) and la Marine (the navy) are represented.