June 21st is a big day in France.  They still hang onto many of the pagan holidays, and the summer solstice is one of them.  It has become a HUGE music festival.  The area around the Eiffel Tower is transformed into a giant concert venue, and big-name talent performs throughout the day.  However, just about every street corner has a band of some kind performing.  The party goes on virtually all night, not surprising when you realize that it does not get dark until nearly 11:00PM.

Our hotel was located on Rue Mouffetard, deep in the Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne.  The hotel was small, and was the only one on the street.  Most of the people in the area are natives and college students.  It makes for a great party.  This picture shows just how crowded the street was during the Solstice party.  It was taken about 9:30PM, and it is not dark yet!

This is the view looking the other direction on Rue Mouffetard.  Most of the shops all had tables out in front selling beverages, snacks, gifts and Silly String.

There are few foods on Earth finer than a well-made crepe.  It is a two stage process.  The crepe batter is poured onto a heated, thick steel disc.  It is smoothed until paper-thin, then cooked golden brown and removed.  The cooked crepes are stored nearby, ready for stage two.  Stage two involves putting a cooked crepe onto the burner and putting whatever you want on it.  Fillings can be virtually anything.  Crepes can be sweet, for dessert, or savory, for dinner.  The gentleman above is melting cheese to make a crepe-fromage-jambon (cheese and ham crepe).  We ate LOTS of crepes.