CHERISHed Memories: "La Fete de Musique"

street view of Montparnasse

This morning I woke up to a beautiful French Breakfast Spread. It included Apple and Banana Granola cereal, a hot croissant, cheese, 3 different types of jam, a baguette, orange juice, and yogurt. It was quite delicious, in fact I went back to sleep for 3 hours after eating all of that food. Once I woke up my hostess and I walked down the shopping center, which was about a 15 minute walk. I walked past the tower of Montparnasse and it was way taller than I imagined. After my hostess showed me how to use the metro, she took off in another direction. I toured the area a little more and ate lunch before heading back to my room. While I was out I did manage to witness two scam artists scam a young woman out of a few euros. I was happy that ignored the male when he tried to stop me. After my lessons on the metro I decided to stop being afraid and just ride the metro. I couldn't believe how easy it was to navigate around the metro's system. The metro was a little warm on the inside, but it felt 10 times safer than riding in a car. When I arrived at the 3rd arrondissement I walked around and listened to the different artists. There were people dancing in the streets to the music and there were also people just playing their own music in the middle of the street. There was one band that I found myself migrating towards the sounds of the beat alone. They sounded like a drumline and their beats were wonderful. I heard a few American classics, including Sweet Home Alabama. There was jazz, rock, African, Pop, classical, R&B, rap, country, soul, nearly every type of music that you could possibly imagine and I enjoyed every bit of it. I watched the children dance, the older couples hug one another as they danced in the streets of Paris. There was something about the music on every corner that just made you move. It was liberating to see all the different cultures sharing their common love for music. I noticed people of various age groups, sexualities, ethnicities and religions dancing to the same rhythms. It was simple amazing. I walked down la rue Rivoli and found a lot of different shops and boutiques. Most of them were closed and preparing for the biggest sale of the year tomorrow. While walking I found a H&M and a Footlocker, I think I will go back tomorrow to view the sales. I rode the metro back and on one of the stop I guy walked on and played the Accordian. I took a picture of him and he tried to charge me 2 euros for the photo, I just politely told him "no thanks." Rather than getting off at the metro station I started at I decided to catch another concert a few blocks away, unfortunately once the concert was over I was a little confused about where I was. I found a street map and realized I was headed in the wrong direction and after walking for 25 minutes, I was finally back at my room. I am quite tired from all the walking, but tomorrow I am preparing for even more. It's officially my birthday in Paris and I plan to spend it tomorrow with the Eiffel Tower and other attractions. Until tomorrow, au revior!