The night Paris doesn't sleep: Nuit Blanche 2012

Paris is no New York. The store fronts housed in typically ornate 19th century buildings hardly twinkle into the wee hours of even 8 or 9pm. But Paris puts on its oh-so-French interpretation of a city that doesn't sleep once per year on the first Saturday of October. Instead of keeping their shops open, public buildings, churches, and cafés open their doors. Random modern art displays emerge along the streets in celebration like crocuses suddenly bursting from the ground at the first hint of spring. It's definitely a night to share with friends as so much of the art is so, honestly, goofy. (Don't let the French artists hear I said that!) Though the value of these "art" works themselves is often more questionable, over the years I have found a few stunning works scattered between the junk (excuse my French), most notably a display of speakers set up in a circle in the middle of a church cleared of its pews. From each speaker initially came sounds of murmuring and scuffling until, as once, silence fell and one by one each speaker projected the ethereal sound of a different human voice, slowing enveloping the listeners in a haunting harmony.

This year, I got off to a late start after hosting dinner with a great group of friends. We managed to visit Paris's town hall (Hôtel de Ville) where we checked out a collection of 55 modern artworks inside a wonderfully classic old building, in a display entitled Entre les Murs, Accrochages Ephémères.

Entre les Murs, Accrochages Ephémères, the display and our official Nuit Blanche excuse to get to traipse through Paris's town hall after midnight on a Saturday night.

From here we headed north and around 1:30am took a tour through the unlit yet weirdly crowded church Eglise Saint-Merry where a video installation entitled Présences-Absences continually bathed the crowd in various shades as new still (sometimes disturbing) images were projected from the screens.

Présences-Absences art display illuminating a crowd cloaked in darkness at the Eglise Saint-Merry

Wisely guided by a friend experienced in doing the Nuit Blanche, we went back dead center into town to check out the Chambre professionnelle des Artisans Boulangers Pâtissiers, a display of the history and work of Parisian bakers and pastry cooks, complete with free samples.

Spotted along the walk back into the center of town for free pastries. (This was just too cool not to share!)

A voiture de boulangerie or bakery car circa 1900

My friends called it a night right around the time Peter got out of his dinner, so he and I did a second round of the town, hitting up a crowded café around 4am for drinks and otherwise pulling my second full Nuit Blanche-- staying out on the town through 7am, the official end-time.

The most magical aspect of the night isn't any of the art displays (nor even the free pastries) per se but rather the spirit that the city takes on. For one night a year, young people come out in droves together with complete strangers (something so not French) to celebrate the night, the end of a beautiful summer, and the simple facts of being young, full of life, and in Paris to enjoy it all.

My Nuit Blanche 2012 crowd, sans Debora and Samuel