Paris Insights - The Blog

Every year at this time the American ambassador in Paris holds a garden party at his residence to celebrate Independence Day. This year was no exception. Although rain was forecast, the weather turned out to be largely warm and sunny, with only a smidgen of rain. It was, then, a great day for a Fourth-of-July garden party!

The theme this year was American food, and there was lots of that!

I went to the corn dog stand and got two delicious corn dogs, one after the other, served with mustard.

Then, I made my way over to the beverage stand where I saw that three American beers were being served. I opted for the craft beer Blue Moon. Nice!

After the beer it was time for fried shrimp. I walked past the hamburger stand…

…and made my way to the fried shrimp stand.

Then, over to the Häagen-Dazs stand for some ice cream…

…where I ordered a MiniCup Macadamia Nut Brittle. I went back later for a Cream Crisp Cookies & Cream. Heavenly!

I had eaten my fill, so I could safely walk around and look at the desserts without feeling tempted for more. There was an American flag made out of colorful puddings. What a great idea! As people took the dessert, a server behind the counter would immediately replace the empty space with an appropriately-colored pudding.

Then there were cookies and doughnuts…

And cheesecake…

Oops! Wrong photo. And cheesecake…

And cotton candy…

A Fourth-of-July celebration wouldn’t be complete with flags, speeches, and music…

The official choir of the American Embassy, The Dip Notes, sang the “Marseillaise” and then the “Star Spangled Banner”. Great harmony, ladies!

Both American Ambassador Charles H. Rivkin and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault gave speeches about the importance of French-American friendship in confronting the problems of our strife-torn world.

And finally, The Diplomats, the U.S. Naval Forces Europe band, played rock, funk, rhythm and blues, and pop.

Oops! How did that photo get in again? Here is a picture of the lead singer belting out “Flash Light” by Parliament. Awesome!

It was a great day to be an American in Paris!

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We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

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