Fête de la Musique

To celebrate the longest day of the year, Paris holds an annual music festival. On June 21st, with my parents fresh off the plane from America, the four of us got to experience this festival and it was definitely one of the highlights of our year living in Paris.
  We kickstarted our night with dinner at our favorite joint, Dans Les Landes, where we had the roasted tomatoes and goat cheese for the first (and definitely not the last) time.

After dinner and some cold rosé wine, we headed out to explore the varying musical acts taking place all over the city. Since we we already in the 5th arrondissement, we wandered around the Latin Quarter, past the Pantheon and down towards Boulevard St. Germain.

Fete de la Musique1 2011 from Caroline Robbins on Vimeo.

A little band of little kids!

A cool salsa band at the top of Rue Mouffetard

I guess it was "Take your Child to Work Day" for this bartender's son!

More music on every corner!

hmmm...interesting...

We eventually stumbled upon a fantastic jazz band playing on a tiny pedestrian street outside a bar. We arrived just as they were starting, so we were able to snag an outdoor table and enjoy the show!

In honor of Peter's brother, Jody...

Fete de la Musique 2 from Caroline Robbins on Vimeo.

Some bands were good, others were...sweaty?

We had to finish the night off with a sweet treat from Amorino, our favorite gelato stop in Paris. I was indecisive about which flavor to choose, so I asked the young woman working there to make me any combination she wanted. She really took this seriously and gave me about 8 different flavors!

Overall, Fete de la Musique was a great event and we're so happy we got to enjoy it with my parents. We all enjoyed the weather and the music until late into the night, when Peter and I missed the last metro and walked 45 minutes home! Well worth it, though, and we highly recommend this event to anyone who comes to Paris on June 21st. 

Happy Summer!