Fete de la Musique

 

 

 

 

Familyone at Trinity's storefront outreach center

Pretty decent crowd. People we talked to said it was even more crowded at midnight

Every year on the Summer solstice Paris lets anyone who wants can play music outdoors without fear of cops shutting them down.  Its a family event these days though rumor is that the media used to cover it with stories like 'only X killed at Fete de la Musique.'

Virtually every street corner had someone or some group playing.  We went to see a gospel/motown group associated with our church and then wandered the First arrondisement where we live. Sorry if I misidentify groups, there was too much that didn't categorize well and I can only really tell the difference between country and not country. We did see sing-a-longs, French rap, singer songwriters and something involving vocals distilled down to noise for a band that seemed vaguely 80's. Not everyone was good but most were solid and a few were amazing.  We retired just as the light faded, 11 or so, but the festival went on late into the night...

This group marched through playing drums and made quite an impression. Seemed like a mixed group of men, women and children.

These guys were playing wild fiddling music from the balcony of an art gallery on Rue Rivoli

As is required by international law, every street festival includes a Peruvian pipe band dressed as American Indians.

A hair metal tribute band?

A real fun brass group belting out pop hits.

Geneva

Dave & Mary at the top of the Telephirique with Geneva in the background

Ah Geneva, home of the $10 Starbucks hot chocolate and the $15 McDonalds 'value' meal.  Despite the cost we had a good time in Geneva. The city takes pity on visitors with free public transport and bike rentals near the lake (provided you are staying in town)

Paragliders taking off at the top of the Telepherique

We did a boat ride the first day which wasn't quite as fun as it should have been because of iffy weather but the second day we had great weather and took the bus to Geneva city limits where we took a cable car up cliffs for a restaurant with a great view and some hiking. This was probably the highlight of the trip for us. From the restaurant we could watch paragliders taking off regularly and riding the wind above the cliff.  Meanwhile we ate something similar to a savoyarde with over a pound of melted cheese, still in its container, potatos and ham. One of us managed to finish the cheese but we won't say which.

Mary enjoying a free bike rental

Geneva's 100 m tall fountain from the top of St Peters

We followed this adventure up with bike riding around Geneva which is blessed with great parks, and visiting St Peter's cathedral, the Reformation and Red Cross museums.  Of the museums our favorite was the 'crypt' of St Peter's which does a great job of showing off the archeological excavations under the church and explaining the city's history through the site (much better than Notre Dame's)

Reformation!

A beautiful sheepdog!

Bruges & Brussels

Bruges & Brussels

We've been traveling a bit the past few weeks.  Two weekends ago we made a foray into Belgium and visited Bruges and Brussels. 
Bruges is beautiful. They call it the Venice of the North.  Its defies the saying that anything that is the something of something isn't the anything of anything.

Mary poses by one of the canals

Mary and Dave taking a cruise on the canals of Bruges. A highlight of the trip.

Bruges from above.  It is an entire city little changed in appearance since medieval times.

We really like this horse fountain. It was near the 'Lake of Love,' which was beautiful.  Most of the lake is a park but there is a restaurant on the water in the park but sadly it was undergoing renovation.

 After Bruges, Brussels could not compete. We did enjoy the historic square and the Mannekin Pis.

Mary and Dave enjoy the Grand Place, old town square of Brussels

Dave averts his eyes from the mannekin pis. We didn't really understand why it was such a Brussels icon.

Brussels from a hill near the Royal Palace.