Bastille: revolutionary Paris

You can't skip Bastille if you go to Paris. The very name of the place just says 'France'. And this is where the France of today started. Right? The French Revolution?
Oh.... wait. which French Revolution? Bastille was the hotbed for two of France's three revolutions.
But enough history! Here, you'll find some of my favorite places in and around Bastille.
Whatever you might have heard about the place, it's changed. A lot. And you might be surprised at what awaits you in Bastille these days.
And.... (because history is embedded in Bastille), I'm also going to introduce you to Bastille's elephant. A very, very cool pachyderm, that. One you really should meet!
So, if you're thinking about where you should go in Paris, and what you should see, and what is the prettiest café in Bastille (and the purriest), add this video to your watchlist.
If you enjoy it, find it entertaining -- Please subscribe! And, write me a comment to say what you liked (or what I could have done better). I do appreciate those.
*** Shot entirely an iPhone, edited entirely on an iPad Air using LumaFusion (like all my videos) ***
Extra images used:
- Historic images of Bastille and personnages all in the Public Domain (sourced through www.parismuseescollections.par...)
- The picture of the Man in the Iron Mask by Prosopee (CC BY 3.0 licence, attribution required)
- Unsplash copyright free images: Old man with beard (Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash), the Crown (Photo by Mitya Ivanov on Unsplash), the Sword (Photo by Anis Rahman on Unsplash), Silhouette of prison bars (Photo by Tim Hüfner on Unsplash), Male prisoner silhouette
(Photo by Harry Shelton on Unsplash), Silhouettes representing jailed counterfeiters (One photo by Joe Shields, the other by Ben Sweet, both on Unsplash), Crazy eye prisoner (Photo by Diane Picchiottino on Unsplash)
Music via Artlist.io:
- "Cold" by Anthony Lazaro
- "Rush Hour" by Dan Zeitune
- "A Short Story of Paris" by Max H.
- "Noi del sud" by Orazio Saracino
- "Farewell" by Maya Beltsitzman & Matan Ephrat
- "Future Retro" by Captain Joz
- "This Will Be the End" by Shahead Mostafafar
- "Autumn" by Kevin Graham
- "Sax Party" by Ofer Koren
- "Anthem" by Rex Banner
- "Something New" by Anthony Lazaro
- "A Dance Under the Stars" by D.A.H. Trump

[@splendidindifference]

I very rarely comment, but I have to say your videos are great - a lovely balance of information and entertainment. Your joie de vivre imparts the presentations with an wonderfully engaging energy. The editing/production is also a cut above. I must admit I didn't have a particular interest in Paris, but your videos certainly leave me wanting to know more. You definitely should have more views - keep going and they will come. A big thank you - and Merry Christmas!

[@amusingaida]

I'm grateful for your comment. It actually carries a lot of weight because you say that Paris is not a particular interest of yours but that the video itself proved worthwhile. All my videos so far are about Paris, but I'll soon be offering different fare as well. The important thing, as you point out, is to strive for a high level of quality, and I'm glad that some of my efforts have shone through. I'm still on a learning curve but I hope to keep improving. For more views... that would be a great present! Merry Christmas to you as well!

[@lorenzogaz8074]

Love this video. My son, the internationally-known artist, David Gaz, lived in the 11th near the opera house for seven years in the early 1990s and I visited him numerous times and have fond memories of the Bastille. I found your video extremely nostalgic. Thanks for producing it. Lorenzo Gaz

[@amusingaida]

I'm glad it brought back impactful memories. And thanks for introducing me to David Gaz's work.

[@williamh9372]

wonderful...can not understand why u don't get more views. u r like the bubbles in sparkling wine..... BRAVO

[@amusingaida]

Thanks. I don't understand it either (except that I've only been here on KZbin for 5 months and everyone tells me that it takes a long time to get noticed)

[@jeffreytowson2990]

utterly charming

[@jackintheworld6639]

Another brilliant mini-voyage into the wild mysteries of Paris!

[@amusingaida]

Thanks! I'm thinking of expanding my mystery voyaging to more horizons... stay tuned, another video in the works!

[@jackintheworld6639]

@@amusingaida I'm sure it will be as charming and creative as the rest. Thanks, Aida!

[@doloressanchez346]

I love your videos ❣️ Thanks . Hugs from Utah . ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

[@amusingaida]

Thanks Dolores! Happy to see you watching the latest ones!

[@vancejones4804]

Thank you so much...just what I needed tonight ..it was lovely ..have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy everything.

[@amusingaida]

Thanks - the first comment since it screened, and a good one! So happy it made your evening

[@micheldaubigne7629]

@amusingaida...J'adore la cloche de couleur rubis/pourpre (le style du chapeau est une « cloche » ou un chapeau bien ajusté en forme de cloche) que vous portez lorsqu'il a commencé à pleuvoir... Vous avez un goût fabuleux et un sens du style formidable. ... ~M⚜💕

[@amusingaida]

Merci - j'adore mes chapeaux (y compris la cloche). Mais j'apprécie davantage votre commentaire sur mon style, que j'espère incarne une d'être idée de chic, sans prétention, et peut-être même individuel).

[@wkrause3]

I would second the comment made by splendidindifference, I never comment but I felt compelled to. My wife and I are in town until after the new year and staying near Bastille. We've watched your videos as we prepared for the trip and we love your energy, the information you provide, and your amazing editing of the your videos. I won't be able to look at Bastile the same thinking about what could have been with if there was an elephant there instead. Happy new year to you and thanks for your videos!

[@amusingaida]

That's great, especially that you're staying near Bastille. I hit only some places that I like around there. I'm sure you'll find more that you'll love. Thanks for diving in with a (rare) comment. Happy New Year - and happy Bastille days currently!

[@johnwalsh8574]

I love Paris and have had the pleasure to visit many many times. Your videos make me want to return many times more. Thank you for bringing a little Paris into my life. Your style is truly unique and you capture the true essence of Paris. Please continue to film your wonderful images, your lovely personality adds a further element of beauty. Cheers 🥂

[@amusingaida]

Thanks John, and I'm on it. So happy to be doing these videos, and I hope that shines through. Paris is good to me, and I love sharing that!

[@sylviamatthee8172]

Thank you very much. Most enjoyable. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[@amusingaida]

Thank you! I enjoyed v much making this video. Nice to hear you found it entertaining!

[@mickcarlon8147]

Your videos, dear lady, are GOLD, pure gold!

[@amusingaida]

Thank you

[@carolmartin4413]

Hello from USA! Just found your videos and throughly enjoying them...especially your local knowledge and emphasis on your town. My grandfather was alsacian so the eastern region appealed to me...minus oysters but yes to regional wines. Keep at it...more people will find you and relish your videos. Joyeux Noel!

[@amusingaida]

That's so great of you to write and say that. I do love Paris (who doesn't? actually I've met one or two who don't, but generally it seduces). I've been to Strasbourg, out in Alsace. I didn't have enough time to do a video there though, but I certainly enjoyed it. Hoping to get back there when the weather warms up a bit, and then maybe do a. video as well.

[@amypovey649]

Love love your videos! They are fantastic. Hello from Australia 🇦🇺 😊

[@amusingaida]

If the French were a bit more Australian I guess they'd say B'jour pote. Hello to Australia. My plan? Visit Australia in 2023!

[@amypovey649]

@@amusingaida oh yes definitely a beautiful place to visit 🤩😊

[@HemingwayJones]

Another Wonderful Video! Awesome and Merry Christmas.

[@amusingaida]

Many thanks! Less Proustian, more pachydermal

[@HemingwayJones]

@@amusingaida There was that! I didn’t know about those monuments. Interesting stuff.

[@amusingaida]

@@HemingwayJones in Paris, you scratch at something and all this interesting history falls out. I don't plan to do history vlogs, but some history keeps creeping into them when I talk about different places...

[@amusingaida]

@@HemingwayJones I don't plan to have so much history pop up in my Paris videos. But scratch at a spot and it tumbles out!

[@Andyvas375]

Waiting for this stream from Bastille. Lived there))))

[@amusingaida]

Cool place to live! (Well, some trashy parts too -- my video's not shying away from that. But overall, Bastille has changed a fair bit over the years.)

[@ManantialVE]

I really enjoyed this video; well structured with a nice balance of useful information and humor. I learned something new today and I appreciate that. I’m curious, was Toby there during the cats café scene?

[@amusingaida]

Hey, thanks for watching it and the generous comment. I'm enjoying making the videos and definitely set on trying to improve my edits -- which is why I follow your channel. And no, no Toby in the cat café!

[@philip5899]

Love the Opera de Paris ❤

[@amusingaida]

The Opéra Garnier? Yeah, everyone loves that building. So beautiful, inside and out.

[@truthpopup]

The storming of the Bastille was perfectly understandable, considering that the aristocracy were exempt from paying taxes.

[@amusingaida]

What's the point of being born into nobility if you can't wave nonchalantly at the tax man?

[@Garfield.Farkle]

Ahhhh, I have had wonderful times at Bastille. The mother of a lover lived off Rue Popincourt beginning in the late 1980s and I saw it develop from a lot of machine shops to get more chic and the night life around Rue de la Roquette was exciting and exuberant at times into the beginning of this century. I had the good fortune to be at many marvelous feasts with some interesting writers, directors and philosophers and a few university professors. I never spent time in the Place other than walk across it, and never went into the Opera. I remember when it was built there was some controversy about the expense because the interior acoustics were not what they wanted and it took quite a while to sort it out. Aida, your English is outstanding and your honest expression of your appreciation of life there translates superbly to your videos.

[@amusingaida]

Thank you for (another) complimentary comment. And, yes, I really do appreciate this city in which I live...

[@Garfield.Farkle]

@@amusingaida I am telling you the unfiltered thoughts in my head. I live in the country - I need to be able to walk outside into a forest and to have my deer, rabbit, crab and bird friends for company. There are only a few cities in the world where I could live - New Orleans, Savannah, Toulouse - - - and Paris. My favorite author, Ernest Hemingway lived there, and in my copy of "A Moveable Feast" purchased at Shakespeare and Co., is this quote: If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. What makes your videos work so well is your love for the City of Life is apparent, You present it honestly with a smile. There is no need for hyperbole or acting. The honesty with which you express yourself about what you see and experience makes your videos magnetic and true.

[@Garfield.Farkle]

@@amusingaida I would like your opinion of the David Buren installation at Palais Royale.

[@monikatraczyk6189]

Hello from Poland 😀 thank you for showing me a little Paris. I have never been there, but one day... 😉

[@amusingaida]

You should, you will (and one day I'll see Krakow!)

[@monikatraczyk6189]

@@amusingaida you will, it's amazing place with lots of stunning views ❤️

[@amusingaida]

@@monikatraczyk6189 Oh, that's what I hear. I do want to see it!

[@waynehicks1969]

I have developed a habit of watching your videos, originally it was out of an interest in Paris and France. Now, I think it is because you have a nice way about you, like the kind of person it would be nice to have lunch with. Guys, can sometimes be described as "Beery", like the kind of guy you would like to be on the bar stool next to you while you were having a beer or two. I don't know what the female equivalent of that is, but maybe you can coin the term. The photography and production is also very professional and artistic. I think you have a future as a travel program personality.

[@amusingaida]

'Winey' (lol)? Thanks so much for the comment. And here's hoping maybe that career suggestion somehow happens!

[@irminsulwotan6413]

Quand je voyagerai à nouveau, je visiterai Bastille. Peux-tu faire une vidéo sur les bunkers Allemands en Normandie ? Peut-être un 6 Juin anniversaire du D-Day invasion? Pouvez-vous également montrer où Jim Morrison est enterré ? Heureux de voir Toby. Les propriétaires du café sont vraiment cool de laisser un chien entrer dans le restaurant. Cool video Merci😎

[@amusingaida]

Ah, ça... peut-être dans une vidéo sur la Normandie, une région que j'aime beaucoup. Et pour M. Morrison, j'ai déjà fait une vidéo dans le cimetière de Père Lachaise (mais sans son tombeau). Et Toby, il entre partout à Paris....

[@ffcwatercolors5552]

Awesome! I bookmarked the dining spots, which I've seen, but never tried. Thanks! Many of the spots looked familiar, but I want to explore the harbor/port a bit more, and to find the passage to the Seine banks. Where is the park with rose arbor? I know La promenade plantée. I also know a secret rose garden in the Marais where I picnic with my friends that live in the city. I'm usually solo in the 2eme these days, but when my husband was alive, we stayed in the Marais.

[@amusingaida]

Ah yes, la Promenade plantée along the Coulée verte. And in the Marais I guess you mean the Square Saint-Gilles... The park with the overhead roses (in season) is in Arsenal, the port... just head up to the left part where it's green (when you have la Place de la Bastille behind you and the boats on your right). The Marais would have been a lovely time for you.

[@ffcwatercolors5552]

@@amusingaida Yes, Square Saint-Gilles! I never mention the name because my expat friends call it the secret garden. LOL

[@amusingaida]

@@ffcwatercolors5552 lovely spot that -- somewhere to get away from the big crowds in the Marais

[@ManantialVE]

Congratulations on the mention in the LumaFusion contest. Well deserved!

[@amusingaida]

Thanks Manantial (really I wanted to submit my "Paris Life" video, which had more complex editing in it... but I accidentally deleted the project file when I was desperately trying to find some more memory for a later edit). It was a fun contest, and I avidly looked at the other entries to see what I can pick up to use in Lumafusion in the future Any techniques stand out for you among them?

[@ManantialVE]

I’ve looked at the other entries just briefly so I don’t know. I’m planning on going through them over the weekend. What in my opinion stands up in this and the rest of your videos is the organization and scripting that makes the story compelling and easy to follow. There’s a touch of lightness that helps a lot in that. There’s also a balanced mix between narration and in camera commentary as well as a not overproduced b-roll with transitions that move the story without getting in the way.

[@amusingaida]

@@ManantialVE Thanks, that's very informative and insightful -- and all the more valuable because you're one of the very top users of LumaFusion. I appreciate that. (Talking of techniques though, I'm still fascinated by using chroma keying to do transitions.... I haven't fully worked that out yet. I've seen your tutorials, and I've tried and failed a couple of times. I plan to try again!)

[@ManantialVE]

@@amusingaida Let me know if I can help. Also, look into Luma Key. You can do some interesting things.

[@amusingaida]

@@ManantialVE Thanks again. I might do that. (And if we're swapping app suggestions, have you checked out Runway ML?)

[@damiaanspatrick2050]

A different type of stone in the pavement of the current Place de la Bastille square indicates the contours of the former building.

[@amusingaida]

Good point. I kind of wished I put that in (and the old Bastille stones set up in a park by the Seine too). I was a bit worried though that there was a lot of history in there as it was.....

[@mmemettejensen]

I would love that you speak french

[@amusingaida]

Bien sûr ! Là, maintenant ? Ou tu veux dire dans une future vidéo ?

[@mmemettejensen]

@@amusingaida dans Les futures vidéos ☺️

[@PatrickModena-ct5zv]

Heureusement que les lettres de cachet ne sont plus d'actualité. Quoi que ....