Bal Des Pompiers

Yes, I am in Paris - again. Yes, I know how lucky I am. No I do not take it for granted. Travel Chick is in Paris for a couple of months and she was kind enough to let me come and share her space for a week. Today is the day before Bastille day and what that means other than fireworks at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow night is that most fire stations around Paris (and maybe all of France, I don't know) have Bal Des Pompiers. A Fireman's Ball, yup we went to the fire station in the 18th and stood in a short line to get into a space behind the fire house where there was music, champagne and dancing. There were people that looked like they never got out of the house except on this one night a year, like the lady in front of us that just was dancing up a storm, I mean shaking her entire body while never losing control of her silver bag that matched her silver shoes. I am thinking she was one of the fire fighters mothers and he was somewhere shaking his head. Then there were all the young girls on the hunt for a handsome firefighter. And handsome they are. In addition to being a firefighter they are all trained paramedics and members of the military. They all have that short military haircut and really good posture.

The only complaint I had was that it was so crowed and I think I must have had a sign on my back in French that said "Just push me out of the way" and they did and let me tell you there was not a woman there with a bag that was smaller than a weekend suitcase and I think every single one of them hit me.

Travel Chick and I decided we needed to leave before we had to use the bathroom, so we left after about and hour and a half. By this time the line was three times the length it was when we arrived. Of course we did arrive early, it was still light out - about 10:30 - ah Paris!