Happy (Belated) Bastille Day, Philly Style
Are we still mad at France? I can’t speak for the rest of the United States, but the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia wasn’t holding a grudge earlier this month as they continued a unique tradition of celebrating Bastille Day in front of Eastern State Penitentiary, a historic and ominous-looking prison.
“From the top of the Bastille, Marie Antoinette looks down at the crowd and tells them that eating bread violates the South Beach diet. When onlookers insist on beautiful, beautiful carbohydrates, she rolls her eyes and says, ‘Let them eat cake.’ After that famous line, Marie’s faithful minions fire up the catapults and shoot Twinkies* to the people below.
Alas, Twinkies do not appease the crowd, so they storm the Bastille, capture Marie Antoinette and sacrifice an innocent watermelon in the guillotine. Then all sing and drink more beer.”
And that’s how they celebrated Bastille Day in Philadelphia.
*In recent years, the cheap bastards have substituted Twinkies for Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, a tragedy of dramatic proportion.
Reader Comments (5)
Why does anyone here celebrate anything French?
Amazing what people do for fun.
"Innocent watermelon." Funny!
I am still boycotting all things French (except maybe a full-bodied Bourdeaux in an emergency.)
We never have anything fun like this or even frog jumping to do in Oklahoma City. If you live anywhere else you are lucky.