Bastille Day July 14^th

Bastille Day is France's independence day. In 1789 the people of France stormed the Bastille prison where locals who had voiced any dissent of the higher classes were held. Being tired of the privileges of the church hierarchy and government, the people rebelled. They celebrate with fireworks as we do.

We celebrated by visiting the town of Sainte. They had a “vide Grenier” which is their flea market. It was held at a horse center. It was a lovely spot with large trees to wander around and visit all the vendors. And in the center there was a large wooden floor where where people were dancing. Imagine our surprise when we looked in the area and found people wearing cowboy hats and boots! They were all line dancing! They must have been a club because they were dancing pretty complicated steps. I only know the grapevine step! It was fun to watch them all dressed in western wear dancing to our western songs.

In addition to the flea market and the line dancers, they had an antique car show. They were pretty amazing cars. So after a small purchase at the flea market we went into the town center where there was another celebration going on.

Near the Charante River there was a celebration near a huge park. They had dancers from several countries giving demonstrations and music in different parts of the park. Fireworks would be shot off from there. However, since we had plans for different fireworks with some other people, we left and promised ourselves to return some day for further investigation. It was a beautiful town with neat buildings, the river and ancient ruins.