Paris' annual beach party kicks off

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A three-kilometre stretch of the banks of the river Seine on Mondayturned into a palm-lined sandy beach for a few weeks as the seventhannual Paris Plage kicked off.

The usually busy roads lining the river in central Paris have beenclosed to traffic until August 21 and redecorated with sand, grassyareas, deck chairs, hammocks and palm trees to give a FrenchRiviera feel.

The initiative, begun in 2002 and since copied by Berlin, Rome andother European cities, has proved hugely popular with locals andvisitors alike, with up to four million people soaking up the sunevery year or attending the many free concerts, sports and otheractivities.

Paris's Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoe set up Paris Plage as partof what he called a "new era" to reclaim the city for its people.The summer beach - and a hugely popular bike rental scheme - helpedget him reelected in March.

This year's beach fest kicks off officially with an orchestra and120 singers outside Paris city hall performing Beethoven's ninthsymphony, part of which - the Ode to Joy - is the anthem of theEuropean Union.

France on July 1 took over the rotating EU presidency.

The concert will be followed by a giant picnic to be held Mondayevening along the whole length of the artificial beach.

Another feature of the 2008 edition is the upgrading of aone-kilometre stretch of the temporary beach along the CanalSaint-Martin in northern Paris to include activities such ascanoeing, rowing, sailing, and ballroom dancing.

Four tonnes of sand - twice as much as last year - have been usedthis year along the Seine and the canal, officials said, addingthat the total cost of the summer beach was 2 million euros (A$3.26million) .

Paris Plage's debut in 2001 met with scepticism, laughed off as yetanother gimmick by Delanoe.

Co-opting a riverside road for the duration would disrupt traffic,critics said, and why waste money dumping tonnes of sand and movinggiant palms to remind people stuck in the city they would rather bestrolling down the Promenade des Anglais in the posh Riviera resortof Nice.

But most tongues have been quieted by the millions of visitors tothe site every year, plus a spin-off industry of Paris Plageproducts and the fact that other cities have followed suit.

Several suburbs around Paris, many with immigrant and lower-incomeresidents who cannot afford to take holidays, have set up their ownsmaller versions of Paris Plage, as have some regional Frenchcities.

And the trend has also spread to Brussels, Prague, Amsterdam,Berlin, Rome and Budapest among other cities.