Tag Archives: Traffic

. . . would there be a rehearsal for the Bastille Day parade during rush hour, oh and whilst the tunnels by the River Seine are closed so that Paris Plages can be installed!

Today was rare day off during the week, I died and went to heaven when I was taken to what I can only describe as a Costco for caterers.  I left armed with a new rolling pin, a box of piping bags (because quite frankly, life is too short to wash them out!) and, amongst other things, some barettes of chocolate for those times at home when I will be making pain au chocolat.  I think what is more likely to happen is I will just end up eating the chocolate and buying the pastries from Tesco!

We re-entered Paris from the South West and headed towards the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysées where we were due to meet P, we hit what I can only describe as “total gridlock”.  At first we thought it was just regular Paris traffic, that was until I noticed quite a regular looking plane fly quite low overhead.  Laurent and I just looked at one another, thinking it was a very odd occurrence; one never sees planes fly that low, in that direction over such a built up area.  I have to admit, I had my heart in my mouth and we both though the same thing – is this another 9/11?  Then a number of other planes came flying by in quick succession before Laurent realised they were rehearsing for the Bastille Day parade on 14th July.

You can see just how low this thing was

How blooming ridiculous – why would you do this at 4pm in the afternoon when the streets are full of cars and tourists?  Wouldn’t you want to keep it a surprise?  As we then crawled towards Place de la Concorde, we noticed that the tunnels along the River Seine were also closed, say this with a French accent “ri-di-cuuuulllleee”.  Still I managed to get a  couple of shots through the sunroof with my phone.

Sarkozy 1 – look closely and you can see the accompanying jet on the right

It will be quite the spectacle if I can get myself out of bed in time!