As I was walking up Madison Avenue in the furnacelike heat today, trying to stick to the shade, I came to a street fair at 60th Street. Several Eiffel Tower drawings by children had been pinned up at a table near the entrance to one side, and festoons of bleu-blanc-rouge balloons were hanging across the street on either side of the avenue. It was the Bastille Day celebration of the Alliance Française, and it was a true fête populaire, judging by the crowds thronging through.
"It's the wrong day!" said L indignantly. The holiday had been moved to a Sunday so that the street could be closed and more people could come. It reminded me of how Americans in Paris usually celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday, instead of Thursday.
The Bastille Day fair explained a puzzling manifestation earlier in the day. 
I saw a man (I think) dressed in a white Marie-Antoinette wig, a shiny red poufy skirt, and a huge red parasol walking near the Plaza Hotel. From the rear s/he resembled these Minnesota Bastille Day celebrators I found on the internet, en plus masculin.
Marie-Antoinette is a popular subject these days, perhaps because of the new Sofia Coppola movie. I saw this toy in a store:
I love that potentially headless doll! I was there too and I did get a pic of the faux Marie here-you're welcome to cut & paste if you want..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisbreakfast/191111432/
I thought there were too many non-French shish-k-bob stands this year...
Posted by: carolg@PB | 20 July 2006 at 14:28
Did you also have military parade? Bastille Day in Paris is all about showing the weapons.
Posted by: Uranus | 22 July 2006 at 02:43