Fete de la Musique!!!

I first heard about Fete de la Musique at the metro station. There was a poster explaining how some of the metro lines would be running all night. What? Why? Fete de la Musique of course!!! What is that??

So I begin calculating. Music groups playing all night, metro running all night..and hey its Tuesday!! What are they thinking? But then again , its Paris and Paris is a very brave city. She puts all the ingredients together for UTTER CHAOS and invites everyone to join in!

Jenny and I just got back from Amsterdam Sunday night. We really STAGGERED home after the drive in the incredible heat. (On the last leg home her car overheated so we had to run the heater in the car to cool the engine ..yeahhh, it was about 93 degrees that day.) So sure, we are ready for another adventure!

I don't know the actual numbers of participants but I do know that at least 2 million people live in central Paris, and I think about half of them were on the metro at about 8pm when I started heading into town. It was not only packed, it was HOT, HUMID STICKY bodies packed. It was so packed in the metro cars, that the usually brave, I'll-squish-in-anyway people didnt DARE try to come in!!! If you know parisiens, you know thats a sign of PACKED!

I got off at Saint Michel, the heart of the heart of the city. Ahhhh breeze! As we ascended the stairs like a school of fish, I could see that the whole of the area was flooded with people. Music was hammering away and the crowd was swaying like seaweed. WE were a tsunami of bodies pouring out of the metro onto the street , flowing over and over and over. I have never seen so many bodies. WE mocked the cars waiting for their turn. The streets were sidewalks and the cars were STATIONARY.

Bands were placed on opposite sides of the street. In fact the fete was occurring all over Paris. Every quarter was hosting different types of music with restaurants and bars open till past 3am and street venders selling snacks and drinks. I have no idea what it takes to throw a party like this but it was simply COOOL!!!!! Even the weather was perfect. How can that be? Jenny reminded me, Leona, its your mayor, he ordered it!

The music was awesome. We saw rock bands of all sorts. There were folk bands, gay pride bands, come-up-and-sing-for-us bands. There was dancing in the street and somehow the parties all seemed so intimate . I still don't understand how its possible.

Jenny and I finally decided have a coffee. Where? A gay bar of course! This is my new favorite trick. Sitting at the bar in a gay bar has got to be THE BEST PLACE for girls to relax in Paris. And when I say relax, I mean, not getting hit on by the fruit man!!!

We stayed out to almost 4am and got home at 5am. That was a lot of walking!!! But here is the mystery. There was alcohol everywhere but I didn't see anyone drunk. People were dancing and singing and swaying and drinking and simply enjoyed themselves. No violence. No puke. Just fun! Amazing!!!

The morning after, Fete de la Musique was like a forbidden party that never happened. Every bit of evidence had been swept and washed away. In fact, one would be a bit suspicious because the streets were a bit TOO CLEAN! Chapeau to all the hard workers who enabled Paris to be a city who can party all night and go to work in the morning!

Thanks to the greatness of this city I saw the recipe for chaos transformed into a night which truy and joyfully celebrated the gift of music.