Fête de la Musique
ParlerParis.com
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 • Paris, France
|
Dear Parler Paris Reader,
The weather held out till this morning's rains to make for a glorious evening of Fête de la Musique...just like it's supposed to be. We took a table for seven at Ma Bourgogne on the northeast corner of Place des Vosges as early as 6 p.m. to beat the crowds and had a leisurely "apéritif" and dinner before making our way round Le Marais to see and hear the musical sights.
The traffic started to increase and little by little the various musical groups began to set up under the arcades of the Place where the acoustics are particularly resonant. It's here where one finds more classical sounds, a bit of opera, choral groups, string quartets and sing-alongs. We made one 'quick' stop for a coffee chez "Le Palace des Vosges" where one of the thirteen owners, Gail Aboudara, is residing with two daughters and a friend. That's a dangerous thing to do...as the apartment is too conducive to just 'hanging out' and we may have never wanted to leave the luscious chartreuse green velvet sofa and elegant surroundings to hit the streets...but of course, we did.
Making one circle around the square (is that an oxymoron?), we encountered numerous performances and hordes of people, but not one policeman. In fact, it's a recurring theme to discuss the lack of police presence during any of the public events, knowing full well that there are lots of plain-clothes cops around we'd never notice. The authorities do seem to make a point of keeping any appearance of force out of the picture and during events of these kinds, there is rarely any disturbance. The French are so well-behaved, it's almost shocking...these are the people who only eat bread and asparagus with their hands and are taught to fold their lettuce, not cut it, so rowdiness is certainly not part of the culture.
On rue de Sevigné at the door of the "Caserne Sévigné" (barracks) were a group of very handsome "pompiers" (firemen) just watching the goings-on -- a car actually trying to part the crowd in front of a brass band like Moses did of the Red Sea, without running over anyone's toes. On rue des Rosiers, about a dozen young friends had found a friendly stoop on which to park while chowing down on felafel-pita sandwiches (that hopefully they had gotten at the area's best provider -- l'As du Falafel, at number 34, rue des Rosiers).
While wandering along the streets of the Marais, our ears may have been on the music, but our eyes were on the fashions, and in particular, how the shops were planning for today's onset of the Summer Sales (June 22, 2011 through Tuesday, July 26, 2011). I made note of the red shoes over which I've been drooling for months marked down 30% as of today and the Wolford bathing suit I can't afford, even on sale. Expect to see me at the shops today in hopes of scoring.
Place Marché Sainte-Catherine is always a hoppin' spot and this year was no different. The restaurants were all packed with happy outdoor diners and people were dancing up a storm to the pop band on the podium. In the courtyard of the Hôtel de Rohan, a rock band played, sponsored by the Archives Nationales. By the time we wandered north to the Mairie of the 3rd arrondissement, we had sadly missed the rhythms of the Cuban group Wil Campa who had played on the Parvis de la Mairie earlier in the evening...but we didn't miss the young athletic man who climbed the light pole...for no reason at all, other than for the fun of it.
And that's what it's mostly all about...appreciation of the fun of music...playing it, listening to it, enjoying it and the spirit it brings along with it.
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
with Gail Aboudara and Anne Morton
Share this article with a friend...
Respond to Adrian
P.S. Don't miss the special offer to save this summer on the rental of Le Penthouse Voltaire with low season rates for July on bookings of five nights or more. VisitParlerParisApartments.com or email: mailto:apartments@adrianleeds.com for more information.
