Paris had the honor of welcoming an exceptional guest for France’s national holiday last Sunday – the Olympic flame illuminating the grandiose military parade on July 14.
With just 12 days until the French capital hosts the exceptionally ambitious and high-security Summer Games, the torch relay joined thousands of soldiers, sailors, rescue workers and medical professionals marching through Paris under the roar of fighter planes.
President Emmanuel Macron kicked off Sunday’s festivities with a review of the troops.
Military bands and choirs played an important role, performing a medley of French military songs, American jazz tunes, a Scottish bagpipe ballad – and the Marseillaise.
Around 130,000 police officers were deployed across France for the National Day weekend.
The parade ended with the arrival of the flame, escorted by riders, 25 torchbearers and cadets dressed in the colors of the five intertwined Olympic rings.
The first bearer of the flame was Col. Thibault Vallette, equestrian gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, who passed it on to a group of young athletes passing it from hand to hand in front of the presidential stand.
Typically, the parade starts from the Arc de Triomphe dating from the Napoleonic era to Place de la Concorde, where the last king and queen of France were beheaded.
This year, Concorde was transformed into a huge Olympic venue for breakdancing, skateboarding and BMX.
Thus, the parade route headed towards the Bois de Boulogne park on the outskirts of the city.
The construction of Olympic venues around the Eiffel Tower means spectators cannot gather under the monument to watch the traditional annual fireworks display.
After its appearance on Bastille Day, the torch relay will pass by Notre-Dame Cathedral, the historic Sorbonne University and the Louvre Museum before heading to other Parisian monuments on Monday.
This year’s national holiday offered Macron a moment of distraction from the political turmoil he sparked with snap elections that weakened his pro-business centrist party and his presidency.
The result left a divided parliament with no one clearly in charge.
The prime minister could leave office in the coming days, while the left-wing alliance that won the largest number of seats struggles to agree on a potential replacement.