In honor of Bastille Day here’s an excerpt from the article “Viva la France” published in Chester County Town and Country Living. Grab a glass of champagne and enjoy! Break out the flags and fireworks. Chill that bottle of champagne. Don’t forget to dig out your old, souvenir beret. It’s time to celebrate freedom and equality the French way! This year marks the 222nd anniversary of the storming of the infamous prison, the Bastille, and freeing of its seven prisoners. On July 14, 1789 the Bastille stood for everything that the people of Paris and France despised – a government of despotic monarchs such as King Louis XVI. Just as the signing of the Declaration of Independence did in America in 1776, the takeover of the Bastille kicked off the start of a revolution in France. It likewise went on to symbolize the birth of the Republic and a new way of governing. On my first trip to France I mistakenly thought that I would visit this famous, 14th century fortification. No such luck. The …