Bon quatorze juillet, everybody!

Yep, it's the commemoration of that day in 1798 when the populace of Paris had fun storming the prison.

Dan and I heard an announcement on the radio for the French Market's celebrations of Bastille Day, took in the announcer exclaiming over the "special guest - Napoleon!", and immediately broke into big grins, because we were thinking the same thing.

I can imagine Napoleon coming today to where he was offered a refuge here in New Orleans when he was instead exiled to Elba and booting everybody out, with a "merde" or two thrown in for good measure. Funny, though...the Napoleon House is closed for vacation, beginning today. L'Empereur Bonaparte probably just wouldn't let everybody back in come le trente juillet.

Then again, despite Marie Antoinette's inclination to serve brioche to the masses (not cake), I can certainly see the queen of France getting into the swing of things with the uptown upper crust. I especially picture her online response to questions such as these as being along the lines of "Cancel les vacances? C'est une idee terrible!" as she runs for her hameau to slum it as an idealized dairymaid.

There ended up being many excesses in revolution as well as in the halls of Versailles and the Louvre, however, which is why I think the current occupant of the Place de la Bastille is especially apt:

Vive L'Opera de la Bastille! (on the left)

And go have some cake.