Wednesday 18 July 2012

Quatorze Juillet

After a month alone here in Caunes, I now have company. Husband Mark arrived back here on 14th July, in time to celebrate the Fete Nationale (sorry, I still haven’t worked out how to do accents on this keyboard).
 


I watched a very impressive feu d’artifice display in the village on the 13th, from my hillside vantage point.
Then, on the evening of the 14th, Mark and I drove to a hillside overlooking le cite of Carcassonne, to prepare ourselves for what everyone had told us, would be an amazing display.


I have only seen fireworks in France on quatorze Juillet once before, and that was in 1969, when I was staying with a French family just outside Paris. It was the summer of the moon landing, of Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick, and the first time I had ever followed the Tour de France on TV. I was 14, and was thrilled to be driven to a hillside overlooking Paris, and watched the fireworks in wonderment. I think it was seeing Paris laid out in front of me that impressed as much as the fireworks. Anyway, it was quite an experience for a 14 year old on her first trip abroad.



Back to Carcassonne…… …… …… …… whole families had gathered on the hillside, and soon after we arrived, the traffic on the road below became quite chaotic. People parked anywhere, facing the wrong way, in the middle of roundabouts, just anywhere they could leave the car and climb to a viewing point.



Almost as soon as it was dark enough……. about 10.30pm, there was a red flare that announced the start of the half hour display. It was stunning. No doubt it cost a fortune, is entirely frivolous, probably dangerous, etc. etc….but it was stunning. Everyone sat or stood and watched in amazement. At one point, the outline of the city vanished, all lights were out, and a red glow covered the whole area. It looked as if the city was burning, and then suddenly, the silhouette of the city reappeared and the main display began.





It was as amazing as we had been told.

The hillside erupted in applause as the display ended, and hundreds of delighted people wandered down the hill to find their cars.




20 comments:

  1. The French certainly know how to do firework displays! Even a small village can come up with an impressive show. The weekend after next is an annual show at Autoire, a small village not far from us, which is surrounded by limestone cliffs. The combination of music, light, and fireworks brings thousands of people from all around the area and celebrates their annual fete.

    The weekend of the moon landing and Chappaquidick I was on Cape Cod with a small portable black and white television with an inadequate antenna, desperately trying to make out the images through the snowy reception!

    I must say your pictures with Carcassonne in the background are stunning!

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    1. As a 14 year old in Paris, I was desperate to find out as much as I could about Chappaquidick, having a complete teenage crush on anything Kennedy. The family I was staying with wanted the Tour on all the time, so they moaned about all the moonlanding coverage, and all I wanted was more Kennedy news. So, we all know where we were on 22 Nov 1963, but can also remember details of that summer in 1969.
      The fireworks were excellent in our little village...but Carcassonne was really special.

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  2. Dear Janice - your firework pictures are really good, they are so difficult to capture. If you have a Mac I can tell you how to do accents, but only if it is a Mac. Glad you have your husband for company, enjoy the rest of your time in France.

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    1. No Rosemary, I don't have a Mac. I did learn to do them once...but have forgotten. I will perservere. It is good to have Mark back with me.J.

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  3. Super photos & memories that some of us share - made me me feel nostalgic and a bit sad.

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    1. Thanks Nilly, sorry to make you feel a little sad. It was a great evening, improved for me, by having Mark back with me in France. J.

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  4. Brilliant photographs!
    And what a super event...no need to be organised, people just sorting themselves out to watch the fireworks.

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    1. Thanks...about the photos... it's the camera, not me. You are right about people getting organised. None of us wanted to drive all the way into the city to get caught up in the huge traffic jams, getting or out of the city. So.....we just found somewhere sensibel to see the whole thing. It was a lovely atmosphere, as well as a spectacle worth the climb up the hill. J.

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  5. I was waiting for this one, Janice!! I'm so pathetically excited by fireworks I feel ashamed of myself - as you say, they're a ridiculous waste of money, potentially lethat, can't be good for the environment and scare some people and animals dreadfully - but I love them! There is something very special about the 14th July ones and I can't think of anywhere better than Carcassonne to watch them (except maybe where I saw them first in Chinon, though your first experience sounds pretty amazing too!) Will stop be fore serious hyperbole takes over...

    Great stuff - so glad Mark arrived in time to enjoy them with you. Axxx

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    1. It was so good Annie. I tend to feel guilty about loving good firework shows....so really understand whatv you are saying. I can imagine Chinon was good. It is such a gorgeous setting,I remember going there with Jess when she was about 18 months old, and loving the place. Marks' son Matt is a fireworks fanatic and when we lived in Mankinholes we were always required to hold the 5 Novemeber family party....fireworks supplied and organised by Matt.... always a good do. I think he is a little peeved that the hebden Bridge garden is not appropriate for such a display . Jxxx

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  6. Hi,
    Great pics. By coincidence I watched the film 'The Dish' today with my pupils. It's about a tracking station in Parkes, Australia which was used to collect the signals from the moon and send them around the world.

    I write my posts in word and copy and paste into blogger. Then if you do a French spell check you'll get the accents. I usually forget the spell check!

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    1. ooh, that sounds like something I could do. I'll give it a go and see what happens...thanks Gaynor. I hope the end of term is good....and that you get yourself back to France as soon as possible. J .

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  7. Janice: If you're using Word, the accents can be obtained by holding down Alt and pressing numbers from 130 on (they're not necessarily in alphabetical order, so I have to hunt for them - it would be sensible to write them down for reference, but.....!) Alt+130 gives é, etc.
    Love the photos - I'd love to visit Carcassonne and that area, but I'm not sure we'd make it now (age & disability, & I loathe airports, so we'd have to drive!)
    All good wishes

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    1. Thanks so much Helva. I will really be making an effort to get this right. The area I am lucky enough to live in, is gorgoeus. I love it. J.

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  8. You may not have as yet worked out the accents, Janice, but you have certainly captured the fireworks display. Brilliant photos of your fabulous fireworks display.

    I do remember the summer of '69 with bittersweet memories; the moon landing with all its hope and Chappaquiddick which filled me with disappointment and sorrow. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college and my father had passed away just that April. The only good thing that summer was that I started dating Tom. Gosh, I hadn't thought about all of those things converging at once in a very long time. All's well that ends well and this all ended in such a wondrous fireworks display. Well done.

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    1. It is funny how things connect in your mind isn't it ? My husband may have been a little amused to see how watching 14 July fireworks made me think about Chappaquiddick. Thanks for your comments about the photos. To be honest it would have been hard not to take interesting photos as the fireworks were so good. J.

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  9. One word - WOW and maybe again WOW.
    Celia x

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    1. Thanks Celia, it was pretty wow, and like Annie, despite all the problems they bring and represent, I love them. J xx

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  10. Super photos, Janice and your post took me right back to 1969 when I had a six-month old baby and went next-door to my neighbour's to watch the moon landing as we didn't have TV. I remember hearing about Chappaquiddick on the radio too.

    You're so right about the French and fireworks. Even tiny communes will have a feu d'artifice to round off their fete or launch the dance. Sometimes all we have to do is to go into the garden and we can see fireworks cross the valley or up the hill. :-)

    As far as accents are concerned I usually use the keyboard shortcuts involving Control and punctuation signs, as I write all my posts in Word and then paste them into Blogger and format. Just email me if you want to know the shortcuts I use.

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    1. I've had a few helpful hints re the accents Perpetua, I will work on it and see what happens. It is strange how important that summer of 1969 seemed to me as a 14 year old, and i do remember it vividly. the fireworks , on the 13th and then the 14th were great fun, all greatly enhanced for me by Mark's return to France. J.

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