Bastille Day!

It's kind of funny that I missed Independence Day in the U.S., and get to make it up by being in Paris for Bastille Day.

The day started early with a military parade that began at the Arc de Triomphe and marched down the Champs-Elysées. Since most of my parade experiences have been the Macy's kind (lots of floats and giant balloons) and this was just a block away from where I'm staying, I strolled down to see how big the crowd was at around 10:30am. The sidewalk was mobbed with spectators, and I realized a very fundamental truth about myself. I am short. I can't see a thing, except for peeks of uniform striding by. A very nice (tall) girl pitied my height-challenged state and offered to take a picture for me.

Marching along

In addition to everything going on in the streets, there was also an aerial fly-by. It was pretty impressive as they flew unerringly straight down the Champs-Elysées in perfect formation.

Three in a row...

Five in a row!

Personally, I decided to celebrate Bastille Day by eating more macarons. There's a Ladurée right on the Champs Elysées, so I popped in to grab two as a quick treat. The flavors here are much more traditional than at Pierre Hermé, lots of fruit and flower-based flavors.

Vanilla

Caramel

So what's the verdict? Eh... I was a little disappointed in the vanilla macaron. Although you could clearly see vanilla specks in the picture, the actual flavor was quite mild. In addition, I didn't love the texture. For me (which is a subjective thing, I know), a good macaron has an additional layer in between the crust and filling that provides a slight chewiness. There was no middle layer.

The caramel macaron fared much better, partly because the caramel filling itself was chewy, and the cookie itself had that additional layer/texture. I liked the filling, but I was amused to find that it tasted exactly like the caramel I make at home. Overall, I'd give the edge to the one at Pierre Hermé, but definitely wouldn't turn down a caramel macaron from Ladurée.

I found it interesting that the ground almonds used by Ladurée is much more coarse than the ones for Pierre Hermé. I actually tasted little bits of almond, which later got stuck between my teeth. Don't know if I'm a fan of that.

Cookies consumed, I decide to take a stroll as dusk approached (the sun sets here at 10pm!). Why are national landmarks so pretty when framed by the darkening sky and soft lighting?

Arc de Triomphe

Finally, to top off my day, I even managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks happening over by the Eiffel Tower! They really fire them low, so I imagine that if you were near the tower, the view would be gorgeous.

See? Fireworks!