Paris Day 19 & 20!!

Yesterday morning, Bastille Day, Sami and I woke up around ten. We immediately turned on the TV and watched the Bastille Day parade down the Chans Elyeses. It was absolutely amazing! Each year the French invite a different country to be represented at the parade. This year it was India. There was snychranized marching bands on horses, multiple divisions of armies, marines, etc... and a ton of airplanes with parachuters! We could even hear all the planes and helicopters flying over the city in our apartment. It was a beautiful day out too. We headed out with Robert around 2 to do some shopping and to cruise the streets. We were out until 7 and then we headed back to have some drinks and relax before we headed off to see fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. After a nap we made some frozen rum punch. It was refreshing and really cold. We also made chocolate chip cookies which lasted about ten minutes :D Then Sami and I packed a little while Robert was taking a shower. We still can't believe a month has gone by! Once Robert was ready he came down and we all headed out. We picked up a piece of pizza and a coffee to wake us up then took the RER towards the Eiffel Tower. Due to the fireworks, the train stopped a station before the Eiffel Tower. It was dark when we got out of the station and the streets were packed! We figured the fireworks were going to start soon because it was dark enough so we started walking faster. Then, once the fireworks started we started running to get there. There were so many people everywhere and it was really hard to manuever around them. The police had blocked off streets so we couldn't get to the lawns of the Eiffel Tower. We ended up standing in the middle of the street and had a pretty good view. We were still close because there was constantly ashes falling on us during the show and we could feel the rumbling vibrations of the explosions. We got some really good pictures and videos of it all. The fireworks lasted for about 45 minutes and were way more spectacular than any 4th of July celebration back home. Once the show was over we tried going back to the street that was blocked off earlier to leave. It was still blocked off and there were even more policemen there to make sure no one got through. They wanted us to return to the metro station at Les Invalides to get home and not the Eiffel Tower station or walk on the streets in that direction. Although no one stormed the gates, people were extremely mad. There were thousands of people! Even more than we saw on the night of summer soltice. Sami and I saw more people on one block than there are in Salem! The police would open the gate for motorcycles, cars, and ambulances so people would try and get through then. At one point, about four guys had climbed onto the back of a passing ambulance trying to get through, but they were pulled off and shoved into the crowd by police. Finally, after about an hour, they allowed us to exit on the sidewalk. We didn't want to take the metro back because it would've been packed and taken longer than walking. We started walking back home, but then decided to get bikes. Robert wasn't able to check out two extra bikes so we only had two. Sami rode one and I sat on the seat of Robert's while he peddled. It was fun riding around and there were hardly any cars out. We did end up finding another station and rented another bike and rode home. We all called home and had a late night packing most of our things up. Today Sami and I got up around eleven and headed out to do our last walk around. We went to Shakespeare and Company where Sami got two Jane Austen books and I got a book called Norwegian Wood. After that we went and got crepes at the same place where we got our first crepes. It was good closure to our crepe fettish :) Then we got metro tickets to get to Charles de Gaule and headed back to the apartments. Tonight we're going to Madrigal with Robert and his friend Dean. It will be a fun last night. Sami and I are heading out at 7 tomorrow morning to head to the airport. I think we are expected to get in to PDX around 9:45pm. See you all soon! We miss and love you all!

Sami & Emily :)