Summer in France: Day Twenty Eight

July 14th (4 weeks)

Happy Bastile Day!! Today was La Fete Nationale in France, which meant no school!! It was pretty sweet not having classes today, and sleeping in past 7. The plan was to meet up with some kids around 11:30 at the Institute to go to a pool with everyone (by everyone I mean Kong, Amanda, Maggie, Emily and Brittany).

So I walk to the bus stop check the time for the next bus and chill. After waiting for 15mins, I began to walk into town because the bus was nowhere in sight, and it was not fun. It made me late meeting up with everyone, but I eventually made it. On my way to the Institute I saw the clowns from the play, and hoped to run into them again.

Once at the Institute it was determined we had to go the 10 euro pool. Before going to the pool we went to a cute restaurant that was cheap, yet good. While we walked to the restuarnt, I ran into my clown friends once again. They totally recognized me, and I got a picture with them!! I love my clown friends, and it makes me so happy they recognize me. We then proceeded to walk to the fancy pool, which is on Ile de Barthelasse (aka the island in the middle of the Rhone separating Villenuve/Avignon).

(Amanda and I with my clown friends)

Once inside the pool was huge! There were kind of a lot of people, yet since it was so big it did not actually seem crowded. Kong ended up not coming into the pool with us, so it was just the girls. We were there for about 3h30 and I had a lot of sun, which is aiding me in becoming darker. Afterwards, it was time to head home for dinner and to get ready for the evening festivities of Bastile Day.

Grandpa gave us a ride into the city, which was pretty sweet and meet up with the gang. We made our way through the massive amounts of people who were making their way to the Rhone to watch the fireworks. Magically we found a spot that could fit the six of us, and popped some bubbly. We shared four bottles of bubbly and a bottle of wine between the six of us, which made for a fun night. Before the fireworks began, there was the traditional dance on Pont d'Avignon and the song played in the background. When the dance was finished, the street lights were turned off and the fireworks began.

(Amanda and I)

The fireworks were not particularly different from those in the states, but it was still enjoyable. Once the fireworks were done, it was time to fit through a tiny door with multiple people to make our way to the Palais de Papes. Eventually we make our way to the Palais de Papes where there was a huge concert. The bands played a mixture of American and French songs, and it was so much fun dancing around without a care in the world. Finally, it was time to catch a taxi home. It was such an amazing night, on par with last Thursday!