Bastille Day in Brooklyn...

After Habana Outpost we went over to Bergen Street where the annual Bastille Day celebrations were in full swing. I think the official Bastille Day is on Thursday, but both Manhattan and Brooklyn had their street parties on Sunday afternoon instead.

As usual the whole street was closed to traffic and filled with sand for a big petanque competition...

There were also lots of food stands and drinks stalls serving champagne and sausage baguettes - I wish we hadn't just had some delicious lunch otherwise I would have been posting photos of a big french hot dog. The queues were pretty massive though, so it was probably for the best.

There was so much going on, and a really great atmosphere...

Some of the side streets near Bergen were absolutely beautiful, there were some lovely brownstone houses with amazing stoops. We went down one of these side streets to get a refreshing iced coffee and whoopie pie from a very lovely little cake shop.

Opposite the cake shop were two lurvely little wooden houses...

This one with the red door is my favourite - give me 25 years and I might have saved up enough to buy it, you'll all be welcome to come and stay, obviously!

There was, as usual for Bastille Day on Bergen, a fantastic band playing outside Bar Tabac. A couple of years ago it was a big band, with pianos and horns and trombones and a singer/conductor - this year it was a smaller band, but equally as brilliant!

The drummer was by far the highlight for me, his 'kit' was literally made out of pots and pans and colanders and he played with metal things on his fingers - it sounded fantastic, the whole band did...

I took some videos - so I hope they work...





I love the Bastille Day celebrations that happen in Brooklyn - I still don't really understand why they happen, but I'm glad they do. It was all great fun.