Once summer arrives the cities put on their finest outfits and dress up as it were. The streets are filled with life thanks to the terrace bars, the good weather and the vast cultural and leisure offerings. The summer season brings an endless number of festivals suitable for all tastes and wallets. This is the case of the Paris Jazz Festival, a beautiful festival that is celebrated every year in an incomparable backdrop, the Parc Floral.

Parisian people are great lovers of jazz music. After the celebration of the Primavera Jazz Festival where homage was paid to the jazz music genre, we see the arrival of the 17th edition of the Paris Jazz Festival. From June 6th until the end of July, the most beautiful botanical garden of Europe (Floral Park) will host every weekend the best international jazz concerts. This year’s program includes renowned artists of the world of jazz, blues or funk.

The Parc Floral will become a unique and charming setting. This way, instead of sitting in bland armchairs, the public sits down on the grass and enjoys the music in a different way, merging with nature and the fresh and breezy Parisian nights.

This edition seeks to explore jazz through the pitch and territoriality, which is divided into nations and the nature of the music. It is counting on the best in national and international composers.

The fifth weekend (4th-5th July) will pay tribute to the Vienna Orchestra, one of the most important jazz orchestras of the world.

Finally, alternative activities will take place in incredible open-air theatres. The open-air theatres La Clairière del Impros and the Jardinophone will be the scenery for the alternative activities that will begin between 09:00 and 18:00. People will enjoy storytelling, sonorous landscapes or simply improvised meetings between music and nature.

Whether you are a jazz fan or not, this festival deserves a mandatory visit because it is celebrated in an unparalleled setting! The open-air concerts in the middle of a nature setting will carry you to a magical world. Rent apartments in Paris if you want to enjoy an unforgettable stay.

Paris Music Festival Paris 2009

This unique event is repeated every year on June 21st to celebrate the summer solstice. This is a prestigious international festival that welcomes summer with all kinds of music; this is called the Fête de la Musique or Festival of Music. Musicians from around the world offer free concerts and shows in almost every corner of the capital – many of them are amazing improvisations. The show usually begins in the afternoon and ends at night.

Incredible colourful lights illuminate this magical evening, the city is full of life and the streets are full of people laughing and having a good time. It is really difficult to be disappointed or to get bored during this festival of incredible music. Many people across Europe meet in Paris on this day to live its warmth.

The musicians involved come from all areas of music: rock, jazz, classical music and folk etc. The concerts are held in open spaces: parks, squares, avenues, or even in public buildings like museums and railway stations. The amazing rock concerts take place in the Place de la Republique, while the classical music concerts are held is in the courtyard of the Palacio Real. The indie bands usually perform at the Place Denfert Rochereau.

Paris will captivate you! People say that during the festivities of la fete de la musique, these beautiful places become even more so. Enjoy this beautiful day, and don’t miss the concerts in such amazing places as the Champs Elysées, the Place de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe and the famous iron lady, the Eiffel Tower.

Do not miss the summer solstice in the most elegant capital of Europe. Have a great time enjoying the acrobats and all kinds of artists and musicians. Rent apartments in Paris for a comfortable and economic stay and enjoy to the full the wonderful fête de la musique 2009.

To speak about cabaret and Paris can only mean one thing: to speak about the big one, to speak about the famous Moulin Rouge (Red Mill). The Moulin Rouge is without a doubt the most famous cabaret in the world. The Moulin Rouge has become an emblem of Paris, even comparable to the Eiffel Tower.

This famous cabaret was built in 1889 by Josep Oller and Charles Zidler in the red light district of Pigalle, at the foot of Montmartre. Since then it has been the centre of Parisian nightlife. The building, that resembles a huge mill with rotating blades included, has housed such incredible artists such as Edith Piaf, Liza Minelli, Frank Sinatra, Ginger Rogers or Yves Montand. But if there is anyone who stood out especially in the Moulin Rouge, that would be Celeste Mogador, creator of the famous Quadrille, the devilish dance that the whole Paris use to go wild about and that later gave origin to the famous French cancan.

At that time the Montmartre district was in fashion, but people of bad reputation and prostitutes used to meet and congregate there. What at first was a stronghold for humble people soon became a sumptuous salon frequented by the Parisian aristocracy. Today it is an essential stop for thousands of tourists who travel to Paris. Nowadays it continues offering a variety of shows set in the bohemian air of the Belle Époque, still present inside the building.

At first it was a temple for the spectacle of opera and a dance hall. Over time it became one of the first establishments where stripping was carried out to the astonishment of all. Currently it offers a variety of shows involving 100 artists (60 of them are the famous “Doriss Girls” – the legendary Moulin Rouge beauties/dancers). It also offers an excellent cuisine.

The Moulin Rouge has been an inspiration for the post-impressionist painter Toulouse-Lautrec. It was also the title of a book that would give origin to the movie with the same name filmed in 1952 and which starred José Ferrer and Zsa Gabor. Years later, in 2001, a new film was inspired and called Moulin Rouge, this time starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor and nominated for an Oscar.

To enjoy a night at the Moulin Rouge it would set you back around 100 € to see the show, and between 140 and 170 € for a dinner and show. Do you want to know more about it? Rent the best apartments in Paris and discover the magic of the world’s most famous cabaret.

In addition to its wonderful museums and its typical cafés, Paris is full of mysteries. Do you know for instance that there is a veritable maze of underground tunnels below the city of lights? If you have seen the Da Vinci Code, this visit may be for you.

The undergrounds of Paris are part of the folklore and go back to the origins of the city; Paris was actually built on a layer of materials that have been used for its construction. Quarries have been dug under the city from the 14th century in a completely anarchic way. Many accidents began to take place in the early 19th century and the exploitation of the quarries was finally banned.

Until the late 17th century there were large cemeteries within the walls of Paris, the most famous one being the cemetery of the Innocents and its common graves. The smell was unbearable, and neighbourhood complaints forced the authorities to find a solution.

It was therefore decided to close the cemeteries of Paris and to transfer the bones of the existing cemeteries to the old quarries. The process lasted almost 100 years and the bones of at least 6 million people were piled up on 11,000 square metres of galleries. Twice as much as the current population of Paris!
The entrance of the Paris catacombes is at Métro Denfert Rochereau (on the site of the former “square of hell”) and they are open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. This municipal ossuary is 1.7 km long and lies 20 metres below the surface: this is only but a small part of the catacombs, the rest can’t be visited.

Dark and humid corridors, a temperature of 11 degrees all year, bones carefully stacked from the largest to smallest, skulls neatly stacked on both sides of dark corridors that are barely one metre wide. What an experience! However, since their creation, the Paris catacombes has aroused curiosity. In 1787, the future Charles X visited it in the company of some ladies of the Court. In 1814, François 1st, Emperor of Austria visited them and in 1860, Napoleon III came down with his son. In 1897, 45 members of the Paris Opera gave a clandestine concert there!

The walls are covered with graffiti dating from the eighteenth century and many authors and filmmakers used this mythical place in their works, such as Victor Hugo in Les Miserables or Pierre Tchernia in the movie Les Gaspards. The catacombs of Paris reopened in 2005 after several months of closure for repairs. Lighting has been revised and the vaults and the walls of bones were consolidated: don’t be intimidated by the verses of the poet Delille at the entrance: “Stop, here begins the grip of Death”.
Come and discover a mythical place in Paris which has aroused curiosity for already 300 years and continues to fascinate urban explorers!

Rent comfortable and cheap apartments in Paris now, visit the paris catacombs and you’ll have some amazing stories to tell your friends about when you get back!