Bastille Day

On July 14 France celebrates Bastille Day. The holiday commemorates the fall of this
fortress/prison in Paris in 1789 during the early days of the French Revolution.

The first Bastille Day was celebrated a year later -- not in Paris, but in Philadelphia! Americans had been first to declare their independence, in 1776, and many sympathized with the French revolutionaries. But those revolutionaries were too busy to party because they were preparing to guillotine the aristocrats.

So now you know: The Americans, in demanding their independence, had been ahead of their time, while the French thought the times demanded a few heads.

Source: THE BOOK OF DAYS