Just ten days after Americans finish cleaning up their Fourth of July barbecues, the French get started on their own national holiday. Popularly called "Le Quatorze Juillet" (July 14th), Bastille Day marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille -- the event that signaled the start of the 1789 French Revolution.
Here are some facts about Bastille Day you may have never heard of.
1
What the revolutionaries found inside the Bastille was quite disappointing.
Prise de la Bastille by Jean-Pierre Houël
2
The Bastille fortress doesn't actually exist anymore.
FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
3
The military procession is pretty huge.
AP Photo/Francois Mori
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4
The sky is the limit on Le Quatorze Juillet.
AP Photo/Francois Mori
5
Bastille Day might as well be a music festival.
GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images
6
The celebrations actually start on July 13th.
AFP PHOTO PIERRE-FRANCK Colombier
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