Music Festival (La Fete de la Musique)

La Fête de la Musique takes place on the summer solstice each year and is a chance for musicians of all sorts to perform throughout France and for people everywhere to enjoy their performances. The basic concept is that anyone can play as long as they perform for free. As a result, you'll see young kids playing music on the street corner, DJs spinning in front of storefronts, and more famous acts performing on stages sponsored by the city. What I found so pleasant is that nearly every street in the downtown area of Toulouse was filled with people having a good time and enjoying the different kinds of music being played. It was great to walk around too without having any cars to deal with! And unlike Bumbershoot and Folklife, in Seattle, the festival isn't confined to just one location--it really permeates throughout the town (and the adjacent towns). So you can hang out in your neighborhood and enjoy the local music (perhaps your neighbors, even) or step out into the center of town. My cousin in Paris said that the city hall of each arrondissement has a stage set up and it becomes a big neighborhood celebration. Towns of all size celebrate the music festival in their own ways. It's really a nice tradition that I hope makes it State-side. Apparently la Fête de la Musique is a relatively recent event (less than 30 years old) so it's not something that's been going on in France for very long either. I heard that London and NYC were having such festivals this year so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Unfortunatly, neither Katie nor I remembered to bring our cameras! I really regret doing that as I would have loved to share some photos with you.

The Giant of Provence

I'm happy to report that Katie and I both successfully biked up the famous Mount Ventoux, the Giant of Provence. Our friend Berko went with us, though he went out ahead early in the climb and was well-rested by the time we got to the top (he was definitely the superstar of the day). For a Tour de France-geek like me, le Mont Ventoux was an experience I'll never forget. I had seen it so many times on TV that it was somewhat surreal to actually be there. It's one of the best known mountain climbs in cycling and absolutely one of the hardest I've ever done.

Mount Ventoux is well known in Provence because it towers over the surrounding landscape at a height of 1912 m (6273 ft). From the summit, you can see the Alps and the Mediterranean on a clear day. To fans of the tour, the Ventoux is easily recognizable as the upper portion is devoid of nearly all vegetation and has a giant antenna at the top--when you see pictures of the ride there is no mistaking where you are. It really is a magnificent view from the top and we were fortunate to have good weather on the day we went (the mountain is known for terrible winds). I guess I don't have too many remarks about the climb itself other than to share a few photos. I would have taken more, but I was frankly too tired to do anything else but pedal and curse the damn hill...


This was taken about 3 miles from the summit, which is on the left side of the photo. You can see how barren the landscape is.


Just before the last turn in the final few hundred meters to the summit.


Looking back down the road. According to some info I came across, the climb itself is 22 km (13.6 mi) with an altitude gain of 1610 m (5280 ft). The average grade is 7.1% with an 11% maximum.


Berko and Katie in front of a bike sculpture at the start of the climb. That's the mountain in the upper right (in the clouds, above Katie's left shoulder).

And here's us at the top...




Several days later, we learned that one of the stages of the Dauphiné Liberé bike race would be finishing at the top of the Ventoux. After some discussion (and some rest for our legs), we decided to climb the Ventoux a 2nd time--only this time along an easier route (though not the "proper" Tour de France way). Unfortunately the weather was not as nice and it was freezing cold at the top and you could barely see the roadway below. But at least we got to see some of the potential contenders for this year's Tour de France (the one's who haven't been caught by the anti-doping tests). I even got to see Laurent Jalabert (now a commentator for French television)! Yes, the very Jaja from an earlier blog entry!!