Nuit Blanche

Spent Saturday wandering around the Marais, feeling Parisienne and starting and ending our wander via the gorgeous Place des Vosges.

Headed out about 8.30 pm for Nuit Blanche. From 7 pm to 7 am there are all kinds of artistic displays to experience over three districts. We limited ourselves to the centre district so that we could walk to everything. Came home about 11.30 pm for a drink, toilet break, foot rest and then out again till 2 am. C'etait tres bon!

The theme of the night was density, linking nature with the urban environment. There were video and sound installations in small, treed courtyards; sculptures in the spotlit interior courtyards of buildings not usually open to the public; outdoor installations in parks and on bridges; projections on walls; illuminated installations in darkened churches. We didn't see all that we wanted because some of the queues were so long - even at 2 am - and we just couldn't keep going till 7 am!

C'etait fantastique! Nuit Blanche was the reason we travelled to Paris a week later than usual this year and it was well worth it. There were many special moments, but just a couple: finding a video installation by surprise, c'est a dire we knew the location but there was no queue and no obvious installation and then we looked up and there was the projection, high on the side of wall in a narrow alley; and sitting in the dark quiet on the concrete steps of an outdoor basketball court watching projections of waterfalls and ancient Japanese performance art on a wall built in the middle ages. I'd certainly head out again for a night like this!