Mélange De La Musique

Yesterday marked the summer solstice of this fine year 2014. As I often don't pay attention to half the things that are going on around me most of the time, I didn't realize that this weekend was June 21 and that it was the solstice or that it was the longest day of the year or that in France a celebration called Fête de la Musique would be peppering the streets of Paris all day long. I had asked the American couple I'm friends with to do something fun on Saturday and it was at their suggestion that we pounded the pavement in search of musical ambience. Throughout Paris, musicians and bands were stationed at various venues and positioned along the rues. All manner of musical genre, talent, and experience. Apparently if you have the desire to perform you can apply and are assured a spot. Interesting idea for next year! We had originally intended to go see Lana Del Ray at the Olympia, but as it is a well-known concert hall with a well-known singer and was completely free, the line was simply too long and obnoxious to wait in for the chance to see a singer I'm not even sure I like. Instead, we went back to my friends' neighborhood in Saint-Michel and spent a good part of the evening wandering the banks of the Seine with water bottles full of Margaritas. 

In France, it is common to concoct your own "mélange" or mixture of a cocktail to imbibe en route to whatever bar or party you are venturing to. So we took our drinks and made our way through the crowds of people enjoying their river view and listening to music ranging from the Beach Boys to Jazz to Scotsmen playing bag pipes on a boat. The sun didn't vanish until almost 11pm and the music continued long after. Back in Saint-Michel there were bands on every corner and crowds becoming rather feisty and temperamental. At one point we felt like we were being swarmed by drunken 15 year olds and found groups of street youth climbing onto bus stops and magazine stands. We felt quite sure a riot could break out at the slightest provocation. Eventually, the husband went home and the ladies went to a couple of Irish pubs in search of tipsy fun and flirtation. We managed to have a strange Canadian man who clearly wasn't from Canada and apparently had a wife with a broken foot in a nearby hotel buy us some overly strong cocktails before we made our excuses and ended our night at Corcoran's Pub with a good ole pint. Though I had fleeting aspirations of heading home at 2am, the metro had already stopped and taxis were not to be found amidst the partying street crowd. All in all, I would say that it was a very successful night of random ridiculousness, culminating in some very stunning sunset photos below...