Accordion music drifts out of fire station courtyards on the eve of Bastille Day, when firefighters open their gates for the bal des pompiers and neighbors dance late into the night. On the longest day of the year, amateur bands play on street corners for the Fête de la Musique, and the city becomes an open-air stage.
Beyond the famous monuments, friends meet on the iron footbridges of the Canal Saint-Martin, and in Belleville painted walls climb toward a park above the rooftops. Winters are cool and gray, summers mild to warm, with light rain in every season. A Local Friend opens doors you would not have knocked on, starting with the bakery on their own street.
