With the weather improving(!!!), time to get out and enjoy yourself in France. Make the most of all the festivals around the country. Here are a selection:Paris• Beginning on July 14, and running for about a month in each arrondissement of Paris, is the arts festival Quartier d’Eté, where you can experience ballet, art, music and theatre. Most events are free. • July 14 is also Bastille Day (la fête nationale), which marks the storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the French Revolution. Fireworks and a variety of events can be experienced throughout the country. • The Open-Air Cinema festival celebrates the art of film. Enjoy films en plein air for free beginning July 25 in the Parc de la Villette in Paris. It’s another fantastic opportunity to have a picnic.• The Théâtre de Verdure du Jardin Shakespeare, in Paris’s beautiful Bois de Boulogne, is the setting for a series of plays in the park, beginning in May and running through the summer. Most performances are in French.
Outside of Paris
• Jazz à Vienne Lyon Session, a jazz festival in Vienne, about 30 kilometers south of Lyon, on the Rhône River, is held in a Roman theatre from the end of June to mid-July. Erykah Badu headlines this year, so the music isn’t strictly jazz. • July marks the Festival d’Avignon, which is one of the country’s oldest and best-known arts festivals, featuring cinema, music, dance and theatrical events. Performances are held in over 20 venues across the city, including the Palais des Papes. • Held annually in August in the town of Aigues-Mortes, not far from Montpellier, Fêtes de la Saint-Louis is a treat for the history buff, as it celebrates the Middle Ages. There’s a reenactment of the arrival of Saint Louis IX (who reigned from 1226 to 1270), with a tavern erected in the middle of town. The free event takes place this year from August 25 to 26 and includes a fireworks display! • Proving that there must be a festival for anything and everything in France, Moncrabeau, in the southwestern region of the country, invites voyagers in August to witness the largest yarn-pulling event of the entire year: the Liars’ Festival. International competitors come together to fib, lie, pull legs and slap thighs in this festival of fibbery. In the end, the king of the liars is crowned. For only 5 euros you, too, can compete. Full article: Spring and Summer Festivals in France
Outside of Paris
• Jazz à Vienne Lyon Session, a jazz festival in Vienne, about 30 kilometers south of Lyon, on the Rhône River, is held in a Roman theatre from the end of June to mid-July. Erykah Badu headlines this year, so the music isn’t strictly jazz. • July marks the Festival d’Avignon, which is one of the country’s oldest and best-known arts festivals, featuring cinema, music, dance and theatrical events. Performances are held in over 20 venues across the city, including the Palais des Papes. • Held annually in August in the town of Aigues-Mortes, not far from Montpellier, Fêtes de la Saint-Louis is a treat for the history buff, as it celebrates the Middle Ages. There’s a reenactment of the arrival of Saint Louis IX (who reigned from 1226 to 1270), with a tavern erected in the middle of town. The free event takes place this year from August 25 to 26 and includes a fireworks display! • Proving that there must be a festival for anything and everything in France, Moncrabeau, in the southwestern region of the country, invites voyagers in August to witness the largest yarn-pulling event of the entire year: the Liars’ Festival. International competitors come together to fib, lie, pull legs and slap thighs in this festival of fibbery. In the end, the king of the liars is crowned. For only 5 euros you, too, can compete. Full article: Spring and Summer Festivals in France
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