Paris Traditions

Paris is beautiful, tempermental (literally the weather changes from sticky sunshine to thunderstorms in the blink of an eye), and exciting. Parisians definitely live the good life. I feel a bit rebellious sometimes against Paris. There is too much here that excites and stimulates the senses. Not enough truth.

I have witnessed some really amazing Parisian traditions. Like an annual music party where all the streets are closed to cars and various performers set up all over the city until odd hours of the morning. People just swarm everywhere, vendors are selling drinks everywhere, and everyone has a party on the streets. It was amazing! The streets were literally lined with a foot of garbage (then next day--I don't know how they did it--all was pristine again!) I mostly hung out in the student quarter where all of the rock musicians were playing. I also got to be here for the party and fireworks of Bastille day, the day they commemorate the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution. Seeing how it is their national holiday, it is sort of similar to July 4th. There was also a political protest that I got to witness, nothing so dramatic as police squads and gas bombs, but french all the same. They were burning flags that had symbols and slogans on them (it had to do with a medical law, but I couldn't understand the acronym). Everyone went way out of their way to decorate themselves and there were hundreds of people, mostly students. I wanted to participate so badly!

Right now, there is a beach constructed along the Seine River, the river that cuts straight through the heart of the city. There is a huge pirate ship for children to play in, and a misting station with plants and (best of all) beach volleyball all day. Paris has many quirks about it....there are always film festivals going on, and concerts. Every band, it seems comes to Paris eventually. Every June, there are (what are called "soldes") nationwide store sales. Everything is dramatically reduced in price. Imagine every single store in the mall having a discount sale all at the same time for an entire month...then imagine an entire country doing this! I haven't actually bought anything, or indeed gone shopping at all. Although, I did just buy a beret!

Oh, did I mention the strange event that happens every Friday evening at midnight until 3:00 in the morning??? You will never guess what the Parisians like to do....they rollerblade! Yep, thousands of people strap on their blades and go on a fast paced, 3 hr long excursion through the city every single Friday night!!!!! It is hilarious. According to the internet, it is the single biggest gathering of rollarbladers in the world...and it happens weekly. Why, you might ask? Because they can. Because there aren't a whole lot of bike lanes and areas to exercise in, because there are 11 million people in Paris, and everything is too crowded to adopt a nice leisurely jog as the mode of exercise...so, the hobby is: rollarblading. I wish I could participate but it is not for beginners and I can't find a place to rent blades.