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.

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!

The Pompidou Centre is the most important modern and contemporary art centre in Paris. It was setup thanks to Georges Pompidou’s initiative, who wanted to create in Paris a cultural institution dedicated completely to modern and contemporary art. This centre is in the heart of the French capital and has a very special architectural structure of 20th century design of which was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and by Richard Rogers.

The Pompidou Centre opened in 1977 and was closed in 1997 for 3 years for rehabilitation was reopened to the public in the year 2000. It is one of the most important museums in the world which possesses the first modern and contemporary art collection in Europe, a large library with more than 2000 places for working, cinema and entertainment halls and an institute for Investigation among other things. The opening times of the centre are flexible and it closes on 1st May and every Tuesday. For the temporary exhibitions it is opened from 11:00 a.m. to 21:00 p.m.

From the 8th April to 10th August 2009 a retrospective of the works by one of the most interesting artistic personalities of the XX century will be staged: Wassily Kandinsky. A hundred of his works will be on show to the general public, in particular his paintings of the “The impression and Improvisations”collections. It tries to focus our attention on the works of a painter who was born in Moscow and died as a French citizen in Navilly-sur Seine in 1944.

The Paris exhibition has the aim of underlining the lasts works of Kandinsky discovered in Russia. This presentation will show us all the constant innovations that Kandinsky lived through, starting from the watercolours of the Russian manuscripts of the period between 1914 and 1917, the portfolio of Baihaus for his sixtieth anniversary in 1926 and other important elements.

Rent Apartments in Paris and discover the most special and exciting personality of Wassily Kandinsky. Fly to Paris and visit the romantic city, the Pompidou Cultural Centre and enjoy the fabulous art exhibition of this renowned Russian artist.

Are you already a fan of the French movie “Amelie” and of its delicious Parisian retro style? Do you remember when she meets her soon-to-be fiancé on a spooky ghost train?
Come and discover this romantic and nostalgic atmosphere at the incredible “Foire du Trone” fair in Paris, where the movie was shot!

The famous Parisian fair was created in 957, when King Lothaire created and institutionalized the first fairs in France. This was then more a kind of traditional market where merchants and farmers came together from Paris and the nearby cities to trade their grain, and where Parisian family came to enjoy the attractions of the time.

During its thousand-year history the fair has changed many times its name, function and location, and even survived the French Revolution to become the largest fair of the French calendar and the biggest fun fair in Europe!

Nowadays it opens its doors every year from April to May, this year from April 4th to June 1st, and provides a giant amusement park visited by a million people every year.
Despite its enormous popularity it has retained its ancient French charm and you will see acrobats, fire-eaters and jugglers in the alleys and streets: you will have the feeling of being in the middle of a fantastic retro film!

After having taken place during centuries in the heart of Paris at the Porte Saint-Antoine, the fair is held since 1965 in the Pelouse of Reuilly in the Bois de Vincennes, in the twelfth arrondissement, not far from the centre.

It is served by metro stations Porte Dorée, Porte de Charenton and Liberté.

It opens Monday to Thursday from 14:00 to midnight and weekends from noon to midnight.

On April 3rd, do not miss the opening night from 18:30 to 23:30, all the takings in the attractions will be given to a charity.
Come and enjoy the games of skills and strength, let yourself be tempted by the French “apple of love”, an apple covered in delicious red candy, and other wonderful marshmallows displayed in fantastic machines (another small pleasure of Amelie, remember!)

During those sixty days have fun in the gigantic Ferris wheel, on the many roller coasters and haunted houses and in more than 350 attractions!

Don’t wait any longer and book now your apartments in Paris, go and discover one of the oldest events taking place in the French capital!

From 13th March to 18th March it will hold at the Porte de Versailles the 29th edition of the Paris Book Fair with Mexico as honoured country. The fair, which receives over a thousand publishers and around 3,000 writers per year, is one of the major European cultural events open to the public.

Mexico, as honoured country, will show up to 22 thousand titles representing different literary genres, books, films and documentaries. This is the first time that a Spanish-speaking country is the honoured guest at this Book Fair.

Under the slogan, “Mexico, a diversity mosaic“, the public is invited to browse through the Mexican literature margins. You should discover 36 authors, read or reread before meeting and hearing them in person, assist to 14 round tables, hear 38 interviews to different national writers by renowned French critics or to enjoy the projection of the documentaries ” From forgetting to not remembering”, ” The Cheno grandfather “, “Today ” and ” The inheritors “, besides the movie “Babel”, by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. On the other hand, they’ll present an exhibition called “The French Literature in Mexican cinema”.

Among the most famous Mexican writers who attend the event, have been invited Homero Aridjis, Álvaro Enrigue, Guillermo Fadanelli, Gonzalo Velorio, Carlos Fuentes, Margo Glantz, Daniel Sada, Martín Solares, Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, David Toscana or Jorge Volpi, among others. These have been chosen under the following scale: they have, at least, one published book and translated into French, they had been nominated by their Francophone editors and they have been selected by the French National Book Center.

On the other hand, a meeting will be held with Spanish and Mexican editors, a journey with specialists in indigenous Mexican literature and languages, a reading with Mexican poets in indigenous languages and calligraphy workshops. Also there will be a space dedicated to children’s and juvenile literature and a representation of the show “The sound of water says what I think,” adaptation of three folk tales from Africa, Turkey and the Celtic region.

Are you a great lover of literature? Travel to the city of lights and immerse yourself in the largest book’s fair in Europe. Rent Apartments in Paris to spend every night reading your favourite book.

Paris Carnival 2009 – The Cosmic Carnival, Astronauts and Aliens

It’s time to dust off the masks, to air the costumes and to rescue the wigs because the Parisian Carnival is here. Yeah, you have read well! We are not talking about the Venetian Carnival, nor about the Brazilian Carnival and neither are we talking about the Canary Islands Carnival. We are talking about the Parisian Carnival! The city of lights drags a former carnival custom little known in the rest of the world which dates back to the Middle Ages. Nowadays, it celebrates two days before of the Mardi Gras.

During the twentieth century, the Parisian Carnival gradually lost its strength due to organization problems. Finally, between 1952 and 1996 it was completely halted, until the “Culture Right Association” re-activated it in 1997 with much more force than ever.

Nowadays the Parisian Carnival is celebrated in style: it is a party full of music, colour and fun. The committee star is a huge cow called “Pimprenelle”, which parades from the Gambetta square until the City Hall.

This edition’s topic is “The Cosmic Carnival, Astronauts and Aliens“. This year thousands of aliens and some astronauts will meet on the Parisian streets to celebrate this popular festival. Lots of people gather year by year to have a great time together in the Parisian Carnival.

This event creates a unique atmosphere where everything is fun and everybody smiles: associations, urban centres, schools, citizens… They all turn Paris into an incomparable city! Despite the Parisian Carnival being of small international recognition, more than 400.000 people meet in the Parisian Carnival parade.

Gradually, the old regional traditions are gaining strength and this pagan event is gaining fans in the French capital. Increasingly, more people dress up, regardless of their age or their condition.

Who does not like to have fun? Discover how people celebrate the Parisian Carnival! Take your best costume, dance with the incredible carnival music and enjoy of the great carnival Parisian atmosphere! And if you prefer to set up your own costume party, rent apartments in Paris! Are you going to miss it?

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What does the word “love” suggest? Possibly, it means illusion, passion and romanticism. Now, think about the most romantic city in the world. Are you thinking about Paris? Paris is the city of lovers. It keeps every kiss that many couples have given each other on the Seine banks or on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Read more about Paris the city of love here