The other day was the 14th, Bastille Day. Lots of stuff going down round here, we recently got a new prez, Independence Day in the States, the Tour de France, and yesterday's holiday.

Happily, the 4th was just another day for us. We probably BBQed, I may,or may not have had a few beers. Every day here is a holiday.

See?

The Tour. I am kinda getting into it. It's on all day, every day, goes through all of France, the TV people show  some amazing shots of castles, natural formations, bitchen villages, and slices of French life. The whole juicing thing is kinda funny to me. As I see it, these guys are athletes, right? Competitive, by definition. Their lives are all about getting an edge over the other guy, the other team, country, whatever. Why not use steroids? Who cares? Look at a linebacker for any American football team. Does anyone really think that human beings are built like that? Look at these bike racers. From the waist up, they could be victims of famine, but the Incredible Hulk should have legs like that. They are friggin huge! Like, comically huge! And, of course,the poop face when they are sprinting for the finish line.

Poop face!

Yesterday was Bastille Day, French Independence day. There is the usual fireworks, and celebrations, and drunk driving arrests, as in the States, but the parade in Paris was quite different than parades back home. 4th of July parades are, and correct my if I'm wrong, High School marching bands, fireman, shriners, some floats, cops on horseback, and the like, right? I seem to remember a trucking outfit I drove for having a couple trucks in one, but that could have been a different parade.

In other words,this.

A good time is had by all. The parade in Paris was,at least the part I saw on TV, all military hardware, Firemen, cops, military aircraft, cop helicopters, and the like. Really impressive.

It was a hell of a show. At the end, there were these 4 elite paratroopers, they jumped out of a hovering helicopter, and floated down in formation, sitting on each others parachutes,like a ladder. 3 of them landed safely, without incident, but 1 landed on some cobblestones, and blew up his knee. Prez Holland is making the rounds after the thing was over, and goes to shake the guys hand. It was pretty cool. Here is a link.

http://www.francetv.fr/info/video-un-parachutiste-se-blesse-a-l-atterrissage-place-de-la-concorde_118759.html

The night of the 13th, we drove to Fort St. Eynard,

Here,

to see fireworks in and around Grenoble. Now, Grenoble has an elevation of about 200 meters, and the fort is on a cliff, above the Grenoble valley, at 1330 meters in elevation. Over a kilometer higher, with an unobstructed view. It was pretty cool. We could see, at one point, 7 different fireworks shows at once. My pictures suck, but here goes...

Super. Thats all I got. Peace.