Fête de la Musique

June 21st, the summer solstice, is celebrated all over France as the Fête de la Musique. There were hundreds of musical groups giving free outdoor concerts all over Paris. The music ranges from classical to ethnic to rock and everything in between. Here are just a few of the groups that I saw walking home after dinner in the half mile between the restaurant and the apartment in Passage d'Enfer.

Notice how light it still is - even at 10 pm.


The groups varied from small rock bands on street corners:


To intimate trios in front of cafes:


There were thousands of people gathered here in the place Denfert-Rochereau just down the street.


I didn't hang around very long at this last one - I felt really old. BTW, there was a lot of smoke in the air - but only cigarette smoke ;-) There was also a lot of trash since the party had been going on all day and many people brought picnics. (Yes, those are McDonald's sacks.) By Tuesday morning everything was all gone and completely clean.