Happy Bastille Day! This day celebrates July 14, 1789 in which the Bastille prison fell and ended Louis XVI’s monarchy all over France and its territories. This means… fireworks!

I really like this French holiday because it reminds me of my fantastically awesome Paris host family. One of my host brothers was named Bastien, and one of my study abroad friends used to call him “Bastille” as a play on his name. He was the cutest 11-year old I’d ever seen! This year he’ll be entering teenage-hood and I’m floored by how quickly time has passed and by the fact that I still miss them very much. I’ll hopefully drop by to visit them next year when I return.

So in celebration of Bastille Day, I’m sharing one of my latest Paris-related purchases: a coffee table book called Paris in Color! I’ve been wanting it for about a year, so it’s nice to finally add to my bookshelf. I actually didn’t get this book until a few weeks ago, even though I had ordered it at the end of May because I accidentally sent it to my old address at Rice. So it took a month to get to me instead of two days.
Anyway, patience prevailed, and I now have it for reading and reminiscing on rainy days like today.

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