Bonne Fête

Un ami m'a dit que les feux d'artifices sont pour les enfants et vraiment l'argent (public) jeté par les fenêtres. Peut-être ils sont gaspillage, mais je les aime quand même. On devrait prendre un peu du temps pour apprécier les petits luxes de la vie de temps en temps. Ci-dessous le feu d'artifice pendant la fête nationale à Plan d'Eau de Metz l'année dernière. Ils me font sentir comme une jeune fille à nouveau.

A friend told me that fireworks are for kids and a waste of (public) funds. Maybe they are a waste, but I still love them. On occasion, we should take a little time to appreciate life's little luxuries. Below, last year's fireworks display during the fête nationale in Metz at the Plan d'Eau. They make me feel like a kid again.

 The beginning: clear, blue sky

Au début: le ciel bleu et clair

 

Letting loose at the end 

Liberer à la fin

Fête Nationale

I have learned that what we call Bastille Day in America, is actually called Fête Nationale (National Holiday) or quatorze juillet (14th of July) in France. I guess we gave it a distinctive moniker to distinguish it from other countries' national holidays. France's holiday is a commemoration of the fête de la Fédération of 14 July 1790, the first anniversary of the taking of the Bastille, and the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy in France. The interesting fact about this holiday, at least for me, is that it celebrates the first anniversary festivities, because the actual taking of the Bastille was considered too bloody to commemorate!

Anne-Lise and Arnaud told me that every year, there are balls and fireworks associated with the holiday, and then warned me that every year, it rains on the 14th. It had rained every day since I had returned to Metz, so I was prepared, with rain jacket in hand, as I stepped out my door to join the line of people walking toward the Moselle, and Plan d'Eau, an islet on (in?) the Moselle. As luck would have it, the night was clear and warm, and actually marked the beginning of warmer, sunnier days for me (at least for the last two days).

The fireworks had already started, the air was filled with smoke and flashes of light, and people were everywhere. I commandeered one of those police barricades so I could lean on it for stability while I snapped photos. I need a tripod if I am going to continue to take photos at night. That said, I would probably never remember to bring it with me, and I would be stuck doing the same search for stable objects to lean on, anyway.

After the fireworks, people were still lined up at the food vendors and children were still on the carnival rides, as I strolled by on my way North up to Centre Ville, to see what else was going on in town. As I walked up the promenade of the Moselle, I heard the standard 12-bar blues rhythm coming from one of the tunnels. I followed the sound, and saw a bar with a small outdoor seating area, a few people dancing in the street next to it, and one woman dancing up near the band. You can see her, the lead singer, and more fête photos in my Metz Events Album on Picasa.

I wandered a bit more before heading back to the apartment to send some documents to my boss, who seems to know when I do not want to be bothered, because he called several times that evening after I had not heard from him in weeks. I got a few half-decent shots of Temple Neuf, of which this funky long exposure is one of my favorites (I tried to hold the camera steady by myself ... no luck). I also got some shots of the L'Opéra-Théatre at Place de la Comédie, and the Temple Evangélique de la Garnison, both of which you can see in my Lorraine Structures album on Picasaweb. I had nothing to support the camera with other than myself on the last temple, but luckily, it was well-lit.

I have two weeks before I need to be out of this apartment. At the risk of sounding high maintenance, it would not be my first choice should I return here, because it has no oven and it is a bit of a walk to do laundry. But I will miss it in my own way. In the meantime, my main concern is what to do with all my junk! I may just give away the housewares and mail my clothes home, as I think it is probable it will cost more to ship my things home than it would cost me to replace them the next time I move.

Happy Bastille Day!

Although here I think people just call it the National Holiday. There are dances, music, fireworks, and other activities planned around the holiday, and I will hopefully be out there tonight. Hopefully, because last night I also meant to head out to see what was going on and I accidentally fell asleep.

How could I fall asleep?!? I went out early in the evening for drinks with Anne-Lise and Arnaud (no cooking lesson this time), who are off to Iran on vacation today. We went to a bar in the city centre, of which I cannot remember the name, but liked enough to track down again before I go. I had a raspberry beer. It has about half the alcohol of regular beer, sweet, fruity flavor, and beer undertones.

For those who know me well, I actually drank the whole beer! And then had hot chocolate while Anne-Lise and Arnaud had a second drink. I was feeling a little drowsy when I got back to the apartment, so I picked up my laptop and brought it over to the sofa, so I could sit comfortably while I perused local activities to see. The next thing I knew, it was three hours later, and after midnight. At that point, I was too lazy to even pull the sofa out into its bed form, so I drew the blanket up and passed out for the rest of the night.

So ... I have been awake since somewhere around 6 this morning. I am starting to feel a little drowsy again, but am afraid to take a nap!

Made it Through the Holiday

This a quick entry, mainly so I can make available photos I took of someone today...

Luckily, it seems only Didier had both Thursday and Friday off, because all the stores were open again Friday. I complained to a friend that the French take every holiday they possibly can and are therefore lazy (not to Didier), and he pointed out that I was being lazy for not planning ahead and figuring out the holiday schedule. Touché.

No surprise, I was up wandering the stands of the market this morning. I saw Mickaël, who I bought cologne from a few weeks ago. You met him in my Porte des Allemands entry. Since I am being bolder about asking people if I can plaster their photos on the internet for the world (or at least my friends) to see, I asked to take his. That's Mickaël on the right, and there are two more photos of him in my Marché Couvert album.

Pour Mickaël, si vous lisez ce blog: vous pouvez télécharger vos photos dans mon album Marché Couvert. Vous avez trois photos dans cet album.

So far, no one I have asked has dissented, so I am going back to a tiny little hardware store I visited early on to buy replacement handles for my kitchen cabinet sometime soon. I hope the same lady is there!

Just down the street from my apartment, the European Cup of Racewalking starts at 8:00 tomorrow morning, and goes until evening.  I am debating whether I want to check it out.  It is a major event, and will probably be good publicity for the town, and possibly generate revenues.  Racewalking is also governed by the same bodies as Athletics (track & field), so if there is any chance that I will run into someone I know here, this will be it.  I have been out of it so long, though, that there are not many involved in the sport who would remember me at all, and the chances any of them would be at this event would be pretty slim.  I also have to admit that racewalking looks awkward to me.  Maybe I'll just take a quick peek in the morning and then hunt for Fort Queuleu.

By the way, having internet access problems again.  This time they are specific to my Mac, so at least I still have access from my work laptop.  Unfortunately, I cannot download my bank and credit card transactions and auto-reconcile them (I know, I'm high maintenance).  Good thing I will be home in a few weeks for a few weeks.