Happy Bastille Day!!!!
 

Bastille Day is a National holiday in France. It is very much like Independence Day in the United States because it is a celebration of the beginning of a new form of government.

At one time in France, kings and queens ruled. Many people were very angry with the decisions made by the kings and queens.

The Bastille was a prison in France that the kings and queens often used to lock up the people that did not agree with their decisions. To many, it was a symbol of all the bad things done by the kings and queens. So, on July 14, 1789, a large number of French citizens gathered together and stormed the Bastille.

Just as the people in the United States celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence as the beginning of the American Revolution, so the people in France celebrate the storming of the Bastille as the beginning of the French Revolution. Both Revolutions brought great changes. Kings and queens no longer rule. The people rule themselves and make their own decisions.

< insert obligatory anti-French comment here>

Every time I think about the storming of the Bastille I think of Tale of Two Cities. Don't ask me why.

My view on France.

August 4th 1914 First World War began and lasted to November 11th 1918.
The longest and bloodiest battles took place on the western front,which enlarged on 700 kilometres,from the Belgian coast to Switzerland.

The main allied nations with France and the United Kingdom (and its empire) gave battle on the front to Germany for four years without a lot of change in positions.

In 1916, the Australian army rejoined the Western front with a 180 000 men detachment. During three years of war, these troops won an enduring reputation on the French and Belgian battlefields.

We are and still remain,free to express an opinion.

sent over our email...

CHANNEL 50
To mark Bastille Day today, we are playing MTV France all this week on Channel 50!

Check out some great shows including:
MTV RE:ACTION
Bytesize
3 From 1
MTV: NEW
and many more!!

And the ability to laugh

I`ll be sure to spend my day drinking wine, eating cheese and watching Jerry Lewis movies.

ah the french, er uh the freedom-ish haha

La Marseillaise
(The Song of Marseilles)


Original French Words


Allons enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous, de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé

(repeat)

Entendez vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Egorger vos fils, vos compagnes.

CHORUS

Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons! Marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!

Amour sacré de la patrie,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs!
Liberté, Liberté chérie,
Combats avec les défenseurs!

(repeat)

Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire
Accoure à tes mâles accents!
Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire!

CHORUS


English Translation

Ye sons of France, awake to glory!
Hark! Hark! the people bid you rise!
Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary
Behold their tears and hear their cries!

(repeat)

Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding,
With hireling hosts a ruffian band
Affright and desolate the land
While peace and liberty lie bleeding?

CHORUS

To arms, to arms, ye brave!
Th'avenging sword unsheathe!
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On liberty or death.

Oh liberty can man resign thee,
Once having felt thy gen'rous flame?
Can dungeons, bolts, and bar confine thee?
Or whips thy noble spirit tame?

(repeat)

Too long the world has wept bewailing
That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield;
But freedom is our sword and shield
And all their arts are unavailing.

CHORUS

Happy Bastille Day, France.

<p><img src="http://www.coffaro.com/photos/Champage.jpg" /></p>

(and thanks for the greatest of all things - champagne)

Hey bundy, looks like that fella is drinking Veuve Clicquot.

Yummy!

Here's to France.

Vive la France!

http://www.wayno.com/notw/frenchie.gif

-Mikey

Must.........resist.............juvenile...................joke...............about............the French..............