We were not in Nice on July 14, 2016, Bastille Day, when a terrorist drove a truck down the Promenade des Anglais at 11 pm killing 86 people and injuring 458 others. We were in London, England that day, but typically would have been in Nice, as we go to Nice almost every July. So in July of this year we wanted to be there and to participate in the activities to honor the dead and injured and also the first responders. Nice was prepared for this year’s Bastille Day and, in fact, thousands of people took to the streets that night to show the world that a tragedy such as the 2016 event would not damp their spirit nor scare them away.
That afternoon, the current President, Emmanuel Macron, as well as former Presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, attended a ceremony in Palace Massena, where medal were given to the tragedy’s first responders. The streets were very crowded with people hoping to catch a glimpse of Macron. We couldn’t get close so went back ti our apartment and watched the ceremony on TV. Nice spent about a week preparing the Place before the ceremony by removing street lights and benches (I think to make the Place more open), erecting tents for seating, putting up stages for a concert, and clearing and cleaning the larger area around the Place for the event.
During the afternoon, down along the Promenade des Anglais, you could enter a fenced-off area and take a card, about a foot square, with the names of all those killed printed on it, and place it on the ground in designated locations along the boardwalk as a memorial. In the evening there were 86 spotlights placed along the Promenade that, after dark, were slowly raised until they pointed straight up into the night sky. The day ended with a music concert just off Place Massena. It was a very French experience.