Yesterday was the Solstice, June 21, the longest day of the year. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather and the temperature was about 75. It was also a national celebration in France of the Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, an annual music festival. There were free concerts all over the city of every kind of music you can imagine. Because we loved the Luxembourg Gardens and knew there would be something happening at their bandstand, we hopped on the Metro and went to the gardens. We were lucky enough to get seats and enjoy the Le Bal Illustre, a historic recreation of a ball in 1914. This was presented by the Carnet de Bals, a group of dancers who research and learn the historic dances of a time period and demonstrate the dances with authentic music and costumes. It was really entertaining. The costumes were elegant and beautiful. Cory even recognized the historic era when he told me it looks like Downton Abbey come to life!!   The recreated the dances of a hundred years ago with waltzes, polkas, Scottish dances, and cotillion game dances. Just as beautiful was the setting in the pavilion under the canopy of huge trees. The pictures don't do it justice. We shared a bottle of wine and were transported to a hundred years ago as we watched the dancers perform. The website for the dance group is http://www.carnetdebals.com if you'd like to more about them. It's in French, but google translates whatever you cut and paste into their translator.

Then we walked for a while through the gardens and ended at the Antiquities café where we had eaten before . We enjoyed dinner and took the metro home. The music continued on our street until after midnight with a live band playing in the bar a block down. Cory watched some soccer and we relaxed at home. We're looking forward to the USA soccer game tonight, although it doesn't start until midnight here, so we have to stay up late tonight.