Why does time seem to elapse even faster in Paris??? At my advancing age (I turn a year older on Sunday! Yikes…and Yay!), this isn’t a good thing :)!  Well, I guess we should just all get use to the fact that I will continue to miss my personal goal of posting once a week….however, if two weeks feels like one week in Paris and I post every two weeks (or a week in Paris time), does that mean I still am making my goal?  Does a tree make a sound when it falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it?

Bastille day or le quatorze juillet was parfait!  Since I missed all the US festivities for July 4th, I was bound and determined to take part in France’s national holiday that marks the uprising of common people against the royal monarch back in 1789.  I skipped class in the morning (first time ever in my entire life!) to witness the oldest and largest military parade down the famous Champs Elysees!  After one hour of standing on my tip toes I saw the below horses who were escorting non-other than Monsieur Sarkozy!!  I was thrilled!  However, I found my enthusiasm was lost on any French person I told the sighting about…apparently Sarkozy isn’t very popular right now despite his wife being pregnant with a little garcon (ah, it is almost a sport for me to bring up Carla Bruni with French friends….they are so impassioned with dislike for her!!).

There were over 240 horses in this group escorting the President of France.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of Mr. Sarkozy because the Russian guy in front of me decided to wave at him (arm dead center in front of my camera) right as I snapped the picture…C’est la vie. 🙁

I wasn’t the only one at the parade…although I wish I would have been because the view would have been better…but here is a fun glimpse of how people 10 rows deep were trying to see the soldiers, horses and President.  The periscopes were hysterical, but I found it particularly amazing that some folks had the wherewithal to bring ladders to the occasion.  Apparently they had done this before.

The best part of the day was when I headed to my Brazilian girlfriend’s house, Andrea (she is in the middle), to drink wine, eat cheese and baguettes and go see the fireworks. She hosted a small party with a few French friends who quickly became my friends too.  One of my new adorable friends is above…her name is Lily.  The iconic Eiffel Tower is majestic behind us….we watched the fireworks on one of the quais near the tower and the Champs de Mars.

No picture is actually like being there, but this is a shot of some of the fireworks during the finale with the Eiffel Tower sparkling to the right. We were all mesmerized for those 20 minutes.

Afterwards we became part of the sea of people trying to get to their next destination.

Thankfully we didn’t have to take a metro as all the stations in the vicinity were completely bondée!

The police were directing people to other, less packed stations…which I think probably became just as over-crowded.  Our group just walked 3 blocks back to Andrea’s apartment and resumed our cheese eating.

It was a wonderful evening…which for me ended 24 hours later as I spent the day after Bastille day with Andrea just café hopping, shopping and then making dinner at her apartment.  Un fête inoubliable et parfait!

I have 2 more days of class left before I take a summer break (gotta do as the Parisians and do some traveling during the month of August…and September)….which means I will have to say good-bye to yet more friends….that seems to be the life of an ex-pat, always meeting and then having to say good-bye to wonderful people.  Two people from this 4 week session I will particularly miss are the vibrant, intelligent and fun girls from Venezuelans!  Carmen and Maria!!  Today we took a little excursion to Paris’ first taqueria.

YES!  I ate Mexican in Paris! And it was wonderful!

Here we are at the Paris’ best and smallest Mexican restaurant, El Nopel (Maria is in the middle and Carmen is on the right).  I ordered the 3 tacos (2 poulet and 1 boeuf) and the girls got the “Burron” (a burrito larger than their heads!).

Everything was made fresh and in front of us…including the handmade tortillas that the owner rolled out and grilled on the spot.

Here is the Mexican owner, Alejandro, cutting tomatos for his wonderful salsa or guacamole.

The service was friendly and in 3 languages (Spanish, French and English)…I will definitely be going back to this delightful hole in the wall along the Saint Martin canal in the 10th.  It was a jewel!

Well, this will be my last blog post at my current age (my Brazilian girlfriend has taught me to be a bit more quiet about my age 🙂 )…but perhaps in my next post I will be much wiser as I will indeed be a year older :).

One can only pray! So stayed tuned, my next post just may change your life. Ha!…and since I am headed to the Champagne region to celebrate, who knows what pearls of wisdom several glasses of champagne will inspire!

In the meantime, I leave with you with some wisdom from a French proverb: