I didn't stay up all night, but I did wander around the Marais for a bit, to see what there was to see. Firstly, there were a lot of people. Secondly, we had to wait in line for each 'attraction.' (Perhaps the second is more of a corollary to the first) Fortunately, the lines moved along fairly quickly at each place, and everyone could have a good time. Most of them were art installations that didn't take more than 5 minutes to see. I went with a friend, Florence, first to a garden near the Hotel Carnavalet, where there was a large tent in which the artist had sand installed, and a live satellite image of a beach in Tahiti was projected onto the wall of the tent, with the sound of the waves and birds being broadcast on speakers, and I swear I could feel a little ocean breeze. Very relaxing.
Then we went to an installation by Carlos Garaicoa, who had made candles in the shape of various famous monuments and buildings, and as the night progressed, the monuments melted and disappeared. Behind the table of candles, live video close-ups were shown on a giant screen. The whole thing was set up in a church, so the collection of candles also played off the theme of religious ritual.
We also went to see a giant necklace dangling in a pool of water.
Finally we went for a cafe and, having lost most of our momentum, decided to call it quits for the night. I guess I'll leave the staying up all night to the young whipper-snappers. Here was the scene at Eglise Saint Merri, next to the Pompidou Center.
1 comment:
We tried to do the Nuit Blanche last night, but gave up pretty early. I didn't have any kind of guide, so it was hard for me to figure out where anything was... I did see a LOT of crowds and a cool installation near the Hotel de Ville. I wish I had seen that candle thing, though.
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