Le Jour de Bastille

I will explain later why Jeff and Alec were sleeping at 11.30 this morning when a batallion of Napoleonic Soldiers marched past our window. The drums I think were the best alarm clock Alec has ever heard. It is la jour de Bastille when the peasants rose up and overtook the aristocracy. In small villages throughout France it is a day long picnic. I followed the soldiers as they marched throughout the village of Lessy. The tailor who made the uniforms was from Lessy and the Mayor, Michel, invited this batallion to celebrate Bastille Day in honour of the tailor who died here last year. We followed the soldiers to the Parc of St. Anne and there spent the day enjoying a fabulous picnic with the village of Lessy, complete with an accordian player, soldiers, wild pig (cooked), and wine of course. Last night, or this morning at 2 a.m we returned from Verdun, a visit to the museum and memorial for all but Rachel et moi; we went shopping and for a drink along the river en centre ville . Later that night we saw an incredible "spectacle" about the fighting around Verdun during World War I. 500 volunteers, french and german, plus actors and actresses staged a spectacular retelling of this time in history. The stage was a huge quarry and the show began just as the stars began to appear. Photos were not allowed and my words cannot describe how moving this even was. Here upon the soil where the worst battle of WWI was fought between the French and Germans and finally the Americans, here where if the bell tolled for the dead it would ring every second of every day for four months, here a group of French and Germans joined together to honour their history, to remember the dead and to finally leave us with an incredible fireworks display in hope for a future filled with peace and reconcilliation.