An American in Provence

On Friday, Alain had the day off from work for Bastille Day, France's National Holiday.
More information about Bastille Day here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille

We first watched the parade along the Champs-Élysées of military equipment, the different armed forces (including the Ecole Polytechnique and the other military academies) several speeches, songs, flyover, etc. Why is it that every national parade in every single country must include firetrucks? Is it because they are red, shiny, and pretty and make a lot of noise?
That evening we went to the beach at Fos-Sur-Mer, where he used to be a lifeguard. We got there around 6, stayed for about an hour and a half. It was a great time to go because it was still warm but less crowded. The water was really warm, even by my standards, not just Mr Polar Bear Alain's. After that we ate at the Festine, (the summer boardwalk) and I had "real authentic" Mexican food.
Then we went to Salon (where our reception was) and watched the fireworks along with about 5000 other people I think. It was nice, I could almost believe that I was in the US on the 4th of July with certain differences- 1) No American flags, obviously. 2) Not even any French flags in sight- none on those little sticks, hanging from buildings, on gaudy t-shirts, nothing. 3) Only patriotic song I heard all day was the singing of the Marseillais during the parade on TV.
For an American, it seems that the French are a lot less patriotic. Of course, for the French, Americans are way too patriotic in a bad, nationalistic sense.