Guide to Sights and Festivals in France

Host: From Bastille Day, the celebration of national pride to the fast pace Tour de France and the wild Venice carnival, France wears the yellow jersey for festival season.

Bastille Day is a French national holiday celebrated on the 14th of July each year. The Bastille Day parade opens with cadets from equal polytechnic then other infantry troops, motorized troops and aviators flying above. In recent times, it has become customary to invite units from France’s allies to the parade. In 2004, British troops led the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time with the red arrows flying overhead. Around the country and the world, people staged spectacular fireworks displays, arranged parades and hold speeches to commemorate Bastille Day.

Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille. During the French Revolution in the late 1800s when common people wanted to over through the monarchy, they saw the Bastille as a symbol of the old ways. The Bastille also held a number of political prisoners, guns and emanation. The decision was made to storm the Bastille as a political symbol and for practical reasons.

One year after the storming of the Bastille, the festival of federation was an official event to commemorate the occasion. And then mark the end of the French Revolution. Bastille Day falls during the Tour de France and is traditionally a day when French Riders try to take a stage victory for France, working harder than they might on other days to show their national pride.

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers more than 3500 kilometers throughout France and bordering countries. The race usually last 23 days and attract cyclist from around the world. The race is broken down into day along segments called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totaled to determine the overall winner of the race.

The rider with the least elapsed time each day wears a yellow jersey. Riders generally start each day together with the first over the line winning but stages can also be time trials for individuals or teams. The overall winner is usually a master of the mountains and time trials. The course changes every year, but it is always finished in Paris. There are similar races in Italy and Spain but the Tour de France is the oldest, the most prestigious and best known.

The shortest tour was in 1904 at 2,420 kilometers, the longest in 1926 at 5,745 kilometers. The combination of endurance and strength needed led the New York Times to say in 2006 that the Tour de France is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events. The effort was compared to running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks while the total elevation of the climb was compared to climbing three Everests.

Each February, the glamorous resort city of Venice comes a lot with a carnival. Venice carnival has a long history. Its earliest mention is in 1294 when the count of province spent the joyous days of carnival in Venice.

Until the 18th century, carnival was punctuated by mass balls in the streets of what is now Venice. However, major accesses were by controlled by the local avets. Because of this, the people of Venice began hosting private parties in their home and they followed the tradition of the Venetian reveler by wearing masks and going incognito. Today, people come to the festival to see the floats and have a good time.

Male: It’s a bit simplistic but it’s very nice. It gives you an idea of what the world is like today, super, brilliant, cool. Venice is beautiful.

Host: Modern floats are cartoonish in their appearance and they always entertain the crowd. The carnival eras have also integrated modern materials, new technologies and the work of sculptures to make sure Venice carnival stands out from the rest.