Nuit Blanche

Literally, NUIT BLANCHE, means white night. If you have had a wonderful meal that lasts for hours, walk the Champs Elysee, dance to endless streams of electronic music, walk like orphans in the street where the city sleeps, sit in the only bar open, drinking chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) then finally, with all the saturday morning workers, catching the FIRST METRO of the day, then MISS your stop because you could not resist falling asleep, showering, then in bed at 7:30 in the morning......you have had a nuit blanche!

Yesterday was the last day of our class. Our little troupe is made up of 5. I will introduce them with words and then later with photos. We are 20,20, 26, and 46. Our countries are USA, Germany, England. Sweden. Voila Marcella, Ramin, Inka, and Christopher.

I think the best dynamic of any group is diversity jumping on a trampoline of continuity and successfully doing airborn stunts that surprises even itself. Still with me? Not bad for a rant just hours after a nuit blanche!

That's to say that any group needs just the right amount of tension to keep it dynamic. We have spent quite a few moments together as a group. There is no doubt that we are explorers at heart to even find each other away from home and enrolled in an odd ball class with Madame Mim as ring leader. I should add, that by the end, she was really MAD Madame Mim! but that is another story.

The coolest trick this troupe was able to pull off was fluidity. As we walked the streets, shopped, ate, explored, I noticed that we constantly paired up differently; conversation never stagnated, exchange upon exchange. Whether in french, in english, or speckled with the spice of langue maternal, our conversations were always a nice frolic somewhere.

Yesterday there was a definite sense of our last time together. We had our LAST lunch at the cafeteria at school. Even as we went through the line grabbing dishes and chattering in our error ridden french we were being corrected by profs inline with us! Excusez moi mais non...c 'est j'aime LE FROMAGE, mais tu dois dire, je vais prendre DU FROMAGE! D'accord!! Just trying eat here! Mais non, il faut apprendre tout le temps! lol ok ok!

When we were classmates we sat with our trays and politely chatted. As a troupe we had our food out and forks were flying...je peux essayer ton fromage...mais oui et ton dessert a l'air de bon..bien sur..goute le! et ce saumon est fume? oui oui, et avec de l'avocat c'est meilleur..and so went the little leaps and twirls with this troupe airborn.

After lunch we decided to go for a cup of coffee. The metro. Saint Michel. Chatting and walking, now promenade. It felt a little like a good ol square dance. We continued with our last days celebrations with conversation, and me insisting on taking photos.

I am going left at every right, and right at every left. That means that I am forcing myself to do things DIFFERENTLY. At lunch I spoke to the woman who corrected our french. She turned out to be a young prof at Alliance Francaise. I can't tell you how intimidating it is to speak FRENCH to a french teacher! In my head I am screaming...JUMP, DAMN IT JUMP!!! My parachute is set but my legs are frozen...and then AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Our conversation contiunes and I am noticing that she is MERCILESS. She speaks quickly, its easier for her. I am listening as quicly as possible, successfully. The chord is pulled, I am drifting towards my mark..ok, I like the view!

All of a sudden, the troupe notices and now the others are parachuting too! Conversation starts flowing..she just went to Sweden last weekend...oui , oui j'adore, c'est vraiment genial! ...and then its Ramin's turn. Where did you go, what did you see? Yeah call me next time you are there. Numbers are exchanged. Chris jumps in. He wants to be an english teacher in france. They discuss it and again, numbers exchanged, advice is given. I ask her how to pronounce je m'ennuie. (That means, I'm bored) ..she tells me and then says, you are bored in Paris? ( no, when I'm in class I sometimes what to whisper that...) but she then tells us about an all night rave that she is going to. This time when I decided to go right instead of left, we met a really cool person and I got my wish to go to a disco in Paris.

It's 7:30, the time for our rendez-vous. We will meet on the Champs Elysee..the grand boulevard that runs right into l'Arc de Triomphe. I exit the metro and instantly receive two msg and then a call. We somehow are all arriving on time; it's a small miracle.

It's Friday evening, it's the Champs Elysee, can you imagine just how many peoople are on the streets??? There are many exits from the metro, and finding each other becomes a work in communication!!! Inka sees the Arc, but not me. We are playing phone tag..I see this..no I see that..and thank god she speak english because cell time is expensive. I stand on a little patch of sanity in the middle of the road. Its the halfway mark of the crosswalk. INKA I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, DO YOU SEE ME???

Without a cell phone, you will not make it in Paris for very long!!! Finally we are all but one. Ramin miraculously pops up out of the exact exit we are standing at. Now where is Marcella, the only one without a cell. She is never late. I'm sure she is lost in the crush of people pounding the sidewalks. In a crazy moment of go right not left, I call her dorm room. It is almost 8pm. She is lost in the crowd without a cell. The phone rings, SHE ANSWERS! What! I'm late, how do I find you guys?

By some miracle, she is out of money, can't make calls, and I call her and it works. The resto is just down the street from the disney store. She makes notes and half an hour later we are all at the same table grinning. WE did it again! ..more tricks on the trampoline.

Why bother with this rant? Because I am learning over and over that the go left not right, go right if always left, has got to be an even better lesson than anything I have learned in class.

The restaurant is Flam's. They serve a very particular menu. Flam is the concept of a pizza on a cracker thin dough. It is not quite crispy but very light and yummy. For 12 euro, you can eat all the FLAM you want!!! and when you have done that, you can choose a dessert. That is the best restaurant deal in Paris!!!!!

It's not a buffet. They bring you a cutting board with a flam. You take knife and fork to it, then eat with your hands. Ramin is my eating partner. We flam away. Inka has her friend from germany who is leaving on the train so they flam lightly; we sneak them free flam as we get it. Chris orders one flam..not the all you can eat flam plan. When he realizes that he really likes, he changes is order..MORE FLAM!!! Marcella shows up and she is FLAMISHISHED..so they partner up on the flam. You will see in the photos that we sit across each other carving out pieces. The waitress brings the flam and we eat it. We have till midnight and Ramin and I are determined to do some real damage. The others slow down but we are flamming like crazy...onions..this wonderful ham/bacon meat, mushrooms...white sauce, we have all the varieties brought to us fresh from the oven. The waitress asks..are you done? Chris is done. Marcella request a half flam. Ramin and I look at each other...we are not done!!!! We were perhaps on our 8th flam, still appreciating the subtle differences and found that the best one, was the last one. It was wonderful.

After a flam meal, we had the after flam dessert. Our choice from the menu: flam flambe? We decided to all choose different thing so we could try everything. This has become our enduring trick, sharing. Creme Brulee, 3 scoops of sorbee, cream puffs filled with ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, and rum raison coffee ice cream and sauce. Spoons were everywhere along with smiles. Yummy.

Its imperative that one walk. The Champs Elysee, is lined with designer stores and tourists. On the one end is the Louvre and the gardens, on the other, l'Arc de Triomphe. We walked up to the arc and marveled at its beauty..more pictures..more memories. Wherever we turn there is something beautiful to gaze at.

At midnight we finally enter the disco. It was a special DJ night hosting all sorts of electronique music..drums and base, indian influences, etc. The schedule was set till 5am. Drinks were 6-10 euro..8-14 dollars! The entrance fee was 5 euro before midnight, 12 euro after! This was hardly a classy club, Paris is just expensive!

Its a day later and I'm trying to finish the endless blog on the neverending night. Marcella is asleep on the couch. After our crazy night, she ended up at Inka's, then back to her place at 10:30am, fell asleep, woke up late to pack for Nice (she is moving down there), and got to Gare de Lyon 10 minutes after the train left. So after a call at 5:30 in the afteroon..a teary..wahhh i missed my train...then a crazy 1 hour of trying to get to her we meet at the train station (thank god I can now speak sufficient french to explain a problem and understand the answer, if not I would not have found her)..we hauled her suitcases to a locker and returned here..oouff!

Our dancing troupe had fun grooooving to the sounds. It was the first time I had ever seen so many guys on the floor. In fact there were a lot of guys. Bart, a friend of Chris' from italy was dancing with Chris and us girls but then I noticed they also didnt mind grooving on the floor on their own. So I just thought, well in Paris guys like to dance!!! Just about that time Marcella comments: Hey this must be a gay bar...duh!

So we found out that normally the disco was a bit on the gay side. That's cool because I loved seeing guys finally on the dance floor!!! So that's the secret! Anyway, it was cool, guys, girls, bee bopping bodies, we were all just flowing with the beat.

Around 3:30 we started walking. Choices were: go to another club (too expensive), sit and wait for the metro at a coffee shop ( none in Paris), walk around and try to find home. This last option lasted for the next 2 hours. Its curious that even when you are homeless in Paris there are a lot of pretty monuments to look at!!! By 4am we were ready to divide up the bodies. Inka took Marcella, they would share her bed in a tiny apt that she shared with another girl. Chris went home, he rents a room from a granny like french woman. That left Ramin and I, on the street looking for a night bus, these ghostly apparitions that appear from nowhere and drift away. No...dont wanna do that. Night buses are freaky. Instead we sat at the one bar that was open. It was FILLED with people drinking and laughing and talking. We drank hot chocolate and struggled to hear each other over the din. It was louder than the club!!!

5:45 am. The final wait was for the metro. The stations are now unlocked but empty. It was silent. The trains have not started to run. Then a mountain of a man moves towards us. Ramin is a little over 6ft. This guy towered over him. He is burly with a real big ol GET IN MY BELLY look. He barrels over to us with his big body and his huge back pack. He needs help with directions. Ramin speaks 5 or 6 languages (english like an american) swede, finlandise, iranian, spanish, and french. This big ol guy is from Brazil. HE SPEAK PORTUGUESE! In the game of language it is sometimes impossible to win! So Ramin very politely tries to explain in spanish how to get to where with the metro. The guy appears very lame. HE IS DRUNK! lol All we want to do is get home but there is a greater need, get this guy home. He is shaking our hands and thanking us. It appears he just got in from brazil. He leaves.

Our brains are pretty much mush. Ramin figures out his metro path and helps me with mine..i take 8 then 6 then 10, no 8 then 1 then 10, no I could take 9 after 8 then 10. kinda like that. His final words were..Leona, remember start with 8 and you are going in the opposited direction of that guy!

The guy shows up again...NO TICKET he says with glee. Glee because he is drunk. Ramin very nicely says no prob, with my ticket you can slide in with me. So my last vision for the night is a very slender Ramin, with a very Fat Bastard SSSQQUEEEZING through a turnstyle, then past a flap together. It was hilarious...and then the night was complete.