Twenty five years ago tonight, I did something that was really quite unlike me. In the summer of 1984, I was part of a group of kids from my school that were taking a 30 trip through Europe. On July 14th, we just happened to be in the middle of our stay in Paris. We spent, I think four days and three nights there total. I had already helped a friend get her pants out of a tree next to the hotel, got lost in a large underground shopping mall with other friends, and had seen my life flash before my eyes during a cab ride through the streets of Paris wherein I was certain I was going to die in a car crash at any moment.

But on the 14th, a group of us decided to go to the Eiffel Tower in the evening, cause we heard that was the place to be. You see, July 14th is Bastille Day in France, the French Independence Day. It’s kinda like being in DC on July 4th, only the people are ruder and everyone’s speaking French.

I don’t remember the whole evening, but I DO remember the crowds congesting the Tower area. Largest crowds I have ever seen up to that point in my life, and only surpassed by the crowds I was in during Clinton’s first Inaugural in 1993.

I don’t remember who exactly was with me, but I DO know there were several of us. And we all decided to go up IN the Tower to see the fireworks.

This is what I meant in the first sentence about something being quite unlike me: I am deathly afraid of heights and NO fan of fireworks. But I remember thinking to myself “When is the next time I’m gonna be in Paris on Bastille Day? I have to do this!” And so I did.

Course, my fear of heights kicked in, and I only went to the lowest, largest platform in the Tower. I just could not go up to the top like a number of my friends did. And I remember a red-headed girl from our area, but not our school district who was with us anyway, and who’s name I THINK was Shelly, but I’m no longer sure, decided to stay on that level with me.

Of course, it was packed! They were setting the fireworks off and Shelly and I were stuck on the other side of the Tower. Of course, we could still SEE them, through the crowds and the metalwork of the Tower itself. But we couldn’t get any closer than that.

At every explosion, I jumped, or cringed. I really do NOT like fireworks. And I remember Shelly taking and holding my hand, tightly, through most of the show, I think to give me support, cause she knew I didn’t like them. It was truly a stupendous sight, one that I’ll never forget.
After the show came the fun of trying to get off the Tower and back to the hotel. The elevators had huge crowds in front of them. They had opened stairways to let people down, and Shelly and I decided to try going that way. But on our way to the stairs, in the crowds, we got seperated. I tried to find her, but really, the crowd kept moving and I went with it, and Shelly was somewhere else.

When I reached the ground, I stayed there, trying to see her through the crowd, but I couldn’t find her. I did, surprisingly run into one of our chaperones and three students with her. We didn’t even know they were coming to the Tower, so it was a total surprise, but a relief as well. I just went with them. I felt bad about Shelly, but I hoped she could find someone from the group. And at any rate, she knew the Paris subway like the back of her hand. I don’t know how she picked it up so fast, but she was the person who got us to the Tower in the first place. I know she could find her way back to the Hotel alone if needed.

The five of us attempted to get on the subway, but it was so crowded we couldn’t even get onto the platform, we had to wait on the stairs to reach the platform. And once on the platform, we had to wait for a few trains to get INTO a car. And once in the car, it was so tight it was almost hindering breathing. One of the girls in our group was small and didn’t even hold onto any poles or anything, she couldn’t reach them. She just stood there and the crowd held her up. And it was hot, and stuffy, and a miserable trip. It felt like we were on the train forever.

Finally, when we reached out stop, we fought our way out and got off and back to the hotel. And Shelly was already there, worried about me. She found some people from our group and they took a cab back to the hotel cause they didn’t want to wait for the train. I was so relieved.

So despite the problems, it was an awesome time, watching fireworks from the Eiffel Tower, and one I’ll always remember.

POLT