Le 14 juillet

Yesterday (July 14) was a public holiday in France, celebrating the fall of the Bastille and the start of the French revolution in 1789. Like a Sunday, Caen was quiet and its inhabitants had a very leisurely day.

We decided to go to the local shopping centre and buy all the things we need to make our apartment more homely – like an ironing-board cover and a potato-peeler – but not breaking the bank. Shopping centres are usually heaving on UK bank holidays, but this one was virtually empty.

Mission accomplished, we returned home, unpacked our shopping, had a rest and prepared ourselves for an evening of festivities in a local square and a huge fireworks display at the racecourse nearby.

Spending the evening the Place Saint-Saveur was delightful. The square has been pedestrianised for the summer with a stage built at one end of the square.

Last night there was folk music and people were being taught various folk dances. All ages were getting involved and having fun. Around the square, hundreds more were eating and drinking in the various bars and restaurants.

There were two exhibitions the council-run gallery at the end of the square. One was a really interesting display of photographs and press cuttings documenting the student and workers’ upheavals of 1968 in Caen.

We didn’t catch the other – a video work by a local artist, but we can see that another evening when we go back to listen to music, watch a film or enjoy some street theatre.

We realised that we don’t go out much in the evenings in the UK. If we do, we spend the evening with friends, but avoid going out in the town centre because it is too hectic. I think it will be different in Caen.

It was still light at 10.30pm when we all moved off to see the fireworks. It was only a 10 minute walk to the Prairie – a vast open space with a horse-racing track, a park and an exhibition centre (but no little house).

We had assumed that fireworks weren’t being sold in the shops because we hadn’t heard any over the past few days. However, that wasn’t true. People were letting off fireworks and flares from about 10 o’clock at the Prairie, I guess as a disorganised ‘warm up’ for the main event.

The official firework display started just after it got dark enough – around ten past eleven. The display was magnificent. There must have been a few tens of thousands of people there at the Prairie and we all headed for home at a quarter to midnight.

There were traffic jams and hundreds of young people cycling home on the council ‘Veol’ scheme bicycles. Everyone was very good humoured. Certainly most people will have been drinking during the day, but no-one was ‘drunk’ as we would recognise it in the UK. It was just a great festival atmosphere and our first July 14.