what is happening on the métro?!

I've seen it all now.

Last night after I wrote to you I met friends to go to Nuit Blanche. The advertisements made it sound like you could just walk around the city and art would be everywhere. We made a vague plan to go to the Louvre and then just walk around looking at all the art. Boy did our plans go awry.

I went out with Raven, Raven's roommate, and a girl from our French class. We left about 10pm because the event lasts from 7pm-7am. One of us had read that the metro was free on certain lines and would be staying open until 5am so we weren't worried at all. We got to gare de lyon and two of the doors were open. I walked right through and we got on the one to the second stop that services the Louvre (palais-royale). The metro was slightly crowded and filled with groups of youthful drinkers who were already rowdy. I knew that we were in for an interesting night.

We got to the Louvre to find out that there was nothing there. The only thing was a red line that went down the largest pyramid in the plaza. Nothing fascinating. We then went to the arc de carrousel and took some pictures. The girls told me that the Eiffel Tower lights up at night and would start to sparkle at the stroke of every hour. I waited patiently for the already brillantly shining tower to start its show. We then walked to Concorde, but nothing was happening there. We then saw the Eiffel Tower start to shine. It was amazing! It looks like Christmas lights mixed with sparklers. It's brillant.

The new addition to the pyramid

This photo doesn't do the Eiffel Tower justice

At Concorde we found the metro and got on the one to go to Hotel de Ville. The metro was insane. It was super crowded and everyone was drinking and screaming. We got to Hotel de Ville, and there was a balloon installation in the courtyard. The balloons were all attached to a net and glowed different colors like pink, blue, and green. Cool, but nothing to write home about. There was a line that had formed, and we saw people exiting the palace. We thought that we'd get in line and see what all the fuss was about.

the balloons 

After about an hour in the line, during which it lightly rained and was freezing cold, a girl from our program approached our group. She was with two other girls and were obviously really drunk. She decided that they were going to cut in line, and no one in our group would speak up enough to tell them no. I could hear the people behind us grumbling as the girls proceeded to scream and be obnoxious. At one point they had left a gap in the line into which several people cut.

Lets skip ahead to it being about 1:30am and we've been in line for over two hours. Finally we got in. The first piece was a screen projection with a weird audio recording. There were two men set up in front of the screen. One did the audio while the other put glass jars filled with water and particles of blood in front of a microscope which was then projected onto the screen. Weird.

the blood projection

We then saw a line to go up the stairs. We got into the pushing crowd to see what was in the building. We got inside just to wait in another chaotic line. Finally we got in and saw the salt piece. It is a picture made out of salt. Mind. blown. The intricate lines were all made of lines of salt, and not a molecule of salt was out of place. I loved it. The only downside was that security kept rushing you along with shouts of "avance, s'il vous plait".

A close up of the salt. Insanity. 

Raven's roommate then wanted to go to the Pantheon because she had heard that there was an exhibit there. The only way to get there is the RER, but it doesn't pick up from Hotel de Ville. We got back on the one, which was crowded to the point where you were physically touching five people around you, and went back to Chatelet to catch the RER. The crowd on the one was insane. There was a 13 minute wait to get another train, and no one sober or drunk wanted to wait that long. We all crammed on to the point that I'm surprised the train didn't break. People pushed the doors open to let their friends on, and there was so much screaming that I thought the raid squad would come in. At Chatelet we found out that the RER was closed. We then thought we could take the seven, but had forgotten that it doesn't pick up from that station anymore. Our last bet was to take the four to the ten. We got to the ten and witnessed the other direction of the line being shut down. We should have known better than to continue.

We got on the train to find four boys smoking the strongest weed I've ever smelled in my life. People were drinking while others defaced the train car with metal objects. One guy was pounding on the wall while his body was halfway out of the car. When we got off the train there was a guy who had opened the door at the end of the car and was halfway between two cars while the train was moving. I see why French governments worry about the youth.

We got off the ten and hiked to the side of the Pantheon. There was a mannequin with a red sweatshirt with the hood tied around its head that was wearing jeans. It was among big bags of what looked like gray construction material, and was lighted up from underneath so that its shadow was cast on the Pantheon's wall. Okay, cool. We then saw a line to go into the library of Saint Geneviève and went in. At the end of the library, there was a pile of piled up newspaper. The artist had made prints that visitors were supposed to ball up and throw into the pile. Actually a really cool, interactive conceptual piece. Not worth all of the navigating we had to do, but still really cool.

The mannequin

The "trash" heap

Across the way at Saint Geneviève was a really cool projection piece. A series of images was projected onto the façade of the church; the lines moved to create new images in black in white to tell out a story about nature. People were making puppet shadows into the projector, and it was intriguing and funny. We went inside the church and all the lights were off. Have you been in a church when the lights were off? Spooky. There was a screen that was showing a similar project to the one outside, but this one had really scary audio. It sounded like the forest at night or the soundtrack to a documentary about Neanderthals. It was too scary to stay long. I was sure that a demon would come out of the altarpiece if we stayed until the end.

Raven's roommate next wanted to go to Gare d'Austerlitze to see soome kind of piece about red flowers. We talked to the ten and found that it was closed. There's no other metro in the area. With no other options, we started walking towards and then along the Seine. When we passed Notre Dame I voted to go home. It was already pushing three of 3:30 and I had almost been up for 24 hours. The rest of the group wanted to keep going. So I went. We eventually got to the train station and found the exhibit, but it wasn't what she was looking for.

The building had red and yellow lights cast onto the sculpture on the façade, but the really cool piece was underground. There is an area that looks like a freeway underpass near line seven. A series of lights were set up next to each column and set to a timer. The lights mimicked the appearance of the train coming and was accompanied by clicking noises. The lights started off slowly by stopping at one column at a time and then started to speed up. At one point only one side of the arch was illuminated and then multiple arches were illuminated at one time. It was fascinating. We walked to the end hoping to find her red flowers, but they were nowhere in sight.

The train simulation

We left the gare and found ourselves in the 13th. We saw a bridge across the way that was lighted up in different colors in a pattern that included mostly blue with hints of green and red. That was our last work. We walked home, past gare de lyon, in the rain in silence. I was in bed at 4:30.

I woke up at 9:30 by the sheer cruelty of mother nature. I spent the morning and early afternoon drinking very strong coffee with sugar and trying to keep my eyes open. I finished studying at about 2:30, but I had zero energy and the gray day wasn't helping me. I made myself ramen because I thought it'd be comforting. I brought chili ramen all the way from the states because I can't live without it, but I haven't made it into soup in a long time. It was delicious! I'm going to make the soup version more often.

I then watched some People's Court and Judge Judy until I fell asleep. I was groggy when I woke up and started eating nutella out of the jar despite not being hungry. I had made plans with Leila to go get ice cream so I messaged her at 7:17.

I got dressed and met Leila downstairs at 7:30. Everyone has kept telling me about this place in Bastille that shapes your ice cream into a flower and she told me that she'd take me there. It's called Amorino and it's delicious gelato. They have one in New York and in Europe, and you must go just for the novelty of it. I got a small cone of speculous, caramel, and something with a weird name that's actually a nutella-like flavor. I was in heaven. We walked around the Bastille while eating our ice cream and then went home.

I Skyped with mom at almost 9, and now I'm writing to you. I'm exhausted. I'm never going to Nuit Blanche again…or at least I'm taking a cab.