“Le 14 juillet,” aka “Bastille Day” in English-speaking countries for mnemonic’s sake, is a pretty eventless day in France.

It’s okay, especially if you partied with firefighters the night before.

Parisians can always get up early and watch the military parade along the iconic Champs-Élysées, held each year in Paris since 1880, almost without exception. I’m sure it’s great, but like many French people (…hopefully?), war toys, uniforms and fatigues make me vaguely nauseous—why is war still a thing?

The rest of the country doesn’t have to deal with dignitaries and tons of lethal weapons on display, although the police tend to patrol just in case French people would be angry enough to start a new revolution, or most likely burn shit down just because.

But it’s pointless. People aren’t angry in the summer. On July 14, we tend to just roam around the city, looking for a bakery selling fresh-out-of-the-oven bread.

Things get more interesting at night when everybody gathers to watch the traditional fireworks. In Nantes, the show is usually at the Pont Anne-de-Bretagne, but it was moved to the Canal Saint-Félix this year because of ongoing construction work (a new tramway line, yay!).

I like the canal, it’s quite scenic.

We showed up around 10 p.m. to get a good spot, and we started waiting. New Year’s Eve fireworks are always on time, and there’s a countdown, but Bastille Day fireworks are a bit “whenever it’s dark enough.”

It was dark enough at 11 p.m., and the show started to the sound of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.

Check out the pictures below. It was pretty awesome.