Okay, let's do this: Meh, could do holidays, but let's start with Nuit Blanche

Give me a moment- I'm working through some Bergerac (totes dece) and trying to figure out what I've said on here already. I'm sorry for the absence- that will get explained via some updates as soon as I feel like I should get to that one. (Long story short- New Year's in Germany. But you'll totally get the long story once I get to that post.)

Anyhoo, I think I'll start with Nuit Blanche. "Why, what is Nuit Blanche?" you're probably asking. "Is it the hip new band that all the youngsters are listening to? Is it Cloak and Dagger's evil twin (triplet?)?" No, true believers. Nuit Blanche is a night where lots of things (museums, metro, etc.) in Paris are open "really late." See, Nuit Blanche means "all-nighter." But as someone who has actually done all-nighters (enough to hallucinate that one time in Reason and Argument- I still say those weird red worms were on the chalkboard and McKeever just couldn't see them), I can tell you that the Parisian standard is a bit low. I mean, they were done by like 3:30 AM. What is this? Not an all-nighter, that's what. But enough about my elitism about all-nighters (to say nothing of my general elitism, to which I'm sure many can attest). Let's get on with the show and the pictures!

The lovely and inimitable Grace Wang and I met up on this year's Nuit Blanche. Grace opted to meet up with an assistant named Suzie. And well... we met up with Suzie. And some of Suzie's Moroccan friends studying in Paris. They were reasonably cool, and were nice enough to offer us drinks, but everyone except Grace and I had already done a Nuit Blanche, which I think contributed to the fact that we stayed in that... not gonna swear despite the wine... darned apartment for about 3 hours before going out. As a result, we didn't get to do nearly as much as I would have liked. Moral of the story: if you're doing a Nuit Blanche one time, make sure you have a plan before you go out. Anyway, I'm not bitter about that. Not at all. But I'll show you some pictures. Why it's a but rather than an and or a so or even a lack of conjuction, and why I didn't use quotation marks for those various words is beyond me. But I have pie once I finish these blog posts, so I'll try to keep this flowing and growing.

So our first big stop was Sacré Coeur. We took some pictures there. I don't think I got a good shot of the view from there, but it was pretty nice. Let's roll those pictures!

Pretty church.



The pretty church (Sacré Coeur for the attention-challenged) again.



Me, Suzie, and Grace. We're smiling because we haven't realized how early everything will close. WHOOPS SPOILERS.

Oh wait. Found one of the view.

Not a great one, mind you.

And then we wandered a bit. I took pictures of it because damn was it stereotypically Parisian. Oh whoops. Swore me a cuss there.

But so Parisian that the cuss was worth a swore.

That one, not so much. Let's see if we can't do better, shall we?

Oh that's a bit better. A for effort I suppose.

We then went to the Palais de Tokyo, which was a major disappointment- there were about two rooms open, and it was modern art, so they were pretty sparse. Then, the Moroccans and Suzie decided to bail to sleep, because they know nothing of all-nighters. I mean come on. This was at like 2 AM. If that. Come on guys. Man up.

Anyway, Grace and I came across someplace across from Palais de Tokyo. We were attracted by the flashing lights. And here's a picture of the light not flashing! But seriously, it was. You can totally trust me on that fact.

If you want to simulate the flashing, blink at irregular intervals. Also try to take a picture in the meanwhile. Fun for the whole family! Unless epilepsy is around.

There was also a statue there. It was hard to get a good picture with the flashing chandelier, let me tell you.

Ah, Naked Dude in Pelt. Not his real name, most likely, but I'm trying here.

And around this point, everything started to close, but Grace and I didn't know that, so we wandered over around Musée Rodin and whatever is over there. Musée d'Orsay and other stuff. Maybe the Louvre? It smelled good at least- food vendors were still in full force, though we did not partake. Hélas! Anyway, here is a groovy picture of the Seine.

Okay, C for effort this time. Seriously man, keep your hands steady.

And there's also a government building whose name I cannot recall. It's an important one though. Note to Dr. Sutton if he's reading this: I totally paid attention in Contemporary France. My test scores will however reflect that I do not have the mind to recall who lives where and works where in Paris. Condolences.

Nor do I know the laws Mitterand passed between 1980 and 1981.

Pretty, innit? Anyhoo, around this time, EVERYTHING was closed. We made it over to the Champs-Elysées, not knowing that everything (including metro) was closed, but hey, we tried. We basically sat in a metro station for a couple of hours while Grace tried to sleep a bit. I then tried and failed to get my Navigo bought, because the offices weren't open when they said they would be. Hooray for Paris.

Seriously, better times have been had. Once again, if ever doing a Nuit Blanche for the first time, please plan ahead. You don't have to stick to it too seriously, but it at least means you'll have a reason to leave a bunch of Moroccans' apartment rather than spend most of your time there.

Not that I'm bitter.