On beaches, mountains, parks and streets, tens of thousands of people in France turned their eyes to the sky on Wednesday to watch the solar eclipse - with long queues for glasses in the hours before the celestial events.
The eclipse - a first in mainland Europe since 2006 - cast its shadow through parts of Greenland, racing south to smother Keflavik, some 50 kilometres from Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, before arcing across the Atlantic Ocean towards northern Spain.
In France the eclipse was only partial, with the sun 99 percent obscured in the Basque Country, 92 percent in Paris and 90 percent in north east France.
But that did not stop tens of thousands of people from turning out to watch, creating a festival atmosphere in parks and viewing spots across the country.
People watch the partial solar eclipse from Stromberg Hill in Contz-les-Bains, northeastern France . Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP
