Bastille Day

Tomorrow, as I'm sure you're all aware, is France's Independence Day. Every year, the French restaurant Les Halles down on 12th and Penn celebrates Bastille Day by hosting an annual waiter race.

Today I managed to schedule a really late lunch so I could go down and watch.

They had the street blocked off, with little cones designating the racing track down Pennsylvania Ave. There were red, white, and blue balloons, and the restaurant had some cooks outside. You could buy a spicy lamb sausage in a baguette, and french fries, and then they had wine on ice. Contemporary music played from a set of speakers. (Sorry Mozart!)

In the center of the block, naturally, Marie Antoinette and the Statue of Liberty were having lunch.

I found a spot on the street, plopped myself down (I'm sure I have a lovely dust mark the bottom of my black business pants), and people watched.

It was worth it to get there early, just to watch Marie Antoinette dance to Usher. The sight of a girl in full 18th Century costume dancing hip-hop inspired the old lady next to me to growl. "That girl in the wig must be hotter than hell."

It cracked me up.

Anyway, the waiters lined up (any professional server working in a restaurant in DC can sign up for the race) and a man with a thick French accent came on and listed the prizes (I'm assuming they're fabulous) and gave the rules. Between his accent and the PA system, he was a little hard to understand, but here are the ones I got.

-No Running (It's a Walk Don't Run race!)
-No Pushing
-No Punching
-No Kicking/Tripping
(These three make you wonder about past races)
-Each waiter has a small tray with a glass of water and a water bottle. If the water spills or the water bottle falls you're disqualified.
-They have to make five laps around the race course.

It was fun. There was one guy who really had the speed walking thing down. Several people got warned for almost running, one girl lost her glass of water, and one crazy lady wore heels. She got lapped twice.