Yet another Nuit Blanche - 2012

[Deleted]

Yes, last night was the 11th edition of the "Sleepless Night" and unlike last year's freakish summer weather, it was cool and rainy this time, although the rain stopped at around 11 p.m.

This year, most of the events were along the Seine as a response to some of last year's problems. Last year there were 2.5 million people (because of the weather probably), and people found themselves waiting to see certain things for more than 2 hours, even at 4 a.m. This year was organised by the director of the Pompidou Centre of Metz and he decided that it was necessary to have more things out where everybody could see them without queuing up.

So, for example, the first thing I saw upon emerging from the metro at 7 p.m. were the cranes of the Les Halles construction site.







People running in and out of the underground mall appeared completely oblivious to all this.







I needed a programme so I hightailed it over to the Hôtel de Ville where I knew I could get one.



The Samsung stand was giving out glowing badges for people to wear. I didn't get one because I do not advertise free of charge.



They also had a Twitter screen for the night for people to broadcast inane messages.

There is always something to see inside the Hôtel de Ville, so I lined up with other people to get inside. I learned that modern technology has completely changed the way that people queue up. The people behind me were looking at the various statues ornamenting the façade and wondering to each other "Have you ever heard of so-and-so?" Within 2 minutes, one of the other people replied "18th century chemist" and read out the whole capsule biography. As we moved forward, they went over the entire history of the Hôtel de Ville, first built in the 16th century, burned down during the Commune, largest city hall in Europe, etc., all glued to their smartphones.

Once through the side gate, the first thing to see was something any of us can make.



Oh well, at least it gets people talking about what is art or not.

[Deleted]

Inside the Hôtel de Ville, there were all sorts of other things.









Remember being a child and being told "pick up all that crap on the floor"?

We weren't allowed in the grand reception room this year, which rivals the palace of Versailles. That's where the mayor of Paris was stabbed during the very first Nuit Blanche by a Serbian homophobe.

Where are we going now?



Ah, we have been invited to see the mayor's office.



Nice ceiling!



Here is where he signed his approval for all of the Nuit Blanche things.

[Deleted]

The terrace and the belevedere of the BHV department store across the street were open this year. Normally there is no access, so it was now or never.



We had to enter through the back street and cross through a big part of the closed store, under the stern watch of numerous security guards.



They were just displaying a few designer items in the rotunda.





Then it was up three more floors to the roof.





Here's the Hôtel de Ville across the street.



Frankly, it was not one of the best views of Paris, but now at least I know.



Next I was off to the city hall of the 4th arrondissement, just two streets behind the Hôtel de Ville.





The thing to see was up in the "salle des mariages."



Here it is!



Frankly, I would have preferred to see the foam pouring over the crowd. This was too civilised.







It was fun anyway.



Outside they were giving away plastic tumblers for drinking water from this fountain. Did you know that drinking water is performance art? At least I have my souvenir tumbler.

[mossie]

Thanks Kerouac. I had seen the adverts for this but I would not have the stamina now to enjoy it. On my last visit I was ready for bed by 9 pm

[Deleted]

Leaving the Mairie du 4e, it was time for me to go to the Left Bank. I knew that the Deportation Memorial was open for the first time ever at night, so I stopped there for a few minutes. It's on the Ile de la Cité behind Notre Dame. Incredibly, I had it all to myself.

Each pebble in the wall represents a person who died in deportation.



A window closed with prison bars looks out the back of the island.



Just as I left, about 25 people were arriving - incredible.

To my extreme displeasure, I saw that the Pont de l'Archevêché has been contaminated by the 'love locks'.





Obviously, it's because of the view of Notre Dame that one has from there.



I knew that the roof terrace of the Institut du Monde Arabe was open. Should I give it a try?



I changed my mind when I saw the queue.



I decided to go to "Jussieu" instead. That's the science department of the University of Paris. Official name: Université Pierre et Marie Curie.



There was a complicated but amusing path to walk to get to the central tower, with lots of interesting sound effects.





The central tower is another Paris skyline abomination.



The wait was about 30 minutes.



The weather had not improved.



Rainy night across Paris! First: boulevard Saint Germain.



And of course the Seine...





Goodbye, UPMC! The campus is still half closed as they continue asbestos removal (the tower was the first thing they did).



I jumped on a bike for just a few minutes to get to the Jardin des Plantes -- or rather the gallery of paleontology.



Midnight was approaching. It was a slow but not a very long line.

Man's relation with the animal world?



Impossible not to think of Ben Stiller when visiting a bone gallery at midnight!







Here's what your dogs look like stripped of their flesh.

[tod2]

Wow thanks for that Kerouac! You are encouraging me to stretch my next visit to Paris from the Ganesha Festival, then wait for Niut Blanche ( which I have attended in it's second year) but never saw anything compared to what you have shown us!)
If I remember correctly you went up to Sacre Coeur last year?

[Deleted]

Sacré Coeur was for the Fête des Vendanges. That's next weekend. I have a very busy schedule. ;D

Anyway, the purpose of opening the Gallery of Paleontology at night was not so that we could study for our biology exam -- it was because there were a couple of art installations in there.

One of them was this feathered mass.





And the other one was I suppose sort of the same thing packed for going on a trip.



But it was still sort of cool to look at the bones.

Okay, that was enough bones for one evening. The next thing to see was right across the street in the Austerlitz station. I discovered that it wasn't even quite midnight yet. The night was young.

The whole central part of the station was taken over by a musical performance with coloured lights and a mute film.





The station lent itself very well to the lighting effects.













I made a very short film while I was there.



And then it was time to go. The Seine side of Austerlitz had lighting as well.

[nycgirl]

Yay, another Nuit Blanche! I like the fact that they opened up balconies and terraces all over the city.

It's too bad about the rain. I don't mind waiting in line much, but I hate doing it in inclement weather. It's true, though, that smartphones have made waiting tolerable. I also look up facts on what I'm about to see while I'm waiting (or I play Words With Friends).

The foam machine reminds me of the time I used the wrong soap in the dishwasher.

Great shot of the Deportation Memorial. So haunting.

[Deleted]

The next thing along the Left Bank after Austerlitz was the International Design Center, more commonly called "the Docks" and even more commonly called "the green snake" by Parisians. Its terrace was supposed to be open also, but I decided not to go up. I just took a quick look at ground level. The outdoor bar seemed appealing in good weather.

There was also some experimental film playing, but I had other things on my agenda.



In the distance I could see the red lights of the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir.



It was still quite a hike, but the Seine promenade in the 13th arrondissement is one of the most interesting nightspots of Paris.







Getting a bit closer...



The Batofar is perhaps the most popular place in the area. It is an old lightship.





The installation on the passerelle blinked and changed according to the people walking on it.









The view back towards the center of Paris is one of the finest in the city anyway, even when nothing is going on.

[htmb]

Thanks for this most interesting report. I admire your tenacity, Kerouac. Given the late hour, darkness, AND the inclement weather, I might have been seriously tempted to curl up inside with a good book and a nice glass of something tasty. I'm glad you decided to go out and take these marvelous photos for us to enjoy.

[Deleted]

It was time for my last visit of the evening, because I wanted to get a good view of the Ivry incineration plant which is famous for its huge plumes of steam (not smoke!) which can be seen from far away. But there was no way I was going to go all the way to the suburbs at this time of night to admire what they had done -- the plan was to make the plumes colourful.

From the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, it looked like this.



But I was going to the top of the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand.



You can see another big queue in the distance. At least the rain had stopped.

The wait to go up was not too long -- maybe about 20 minutes. One of the best things about the belevedere of the library is that the 24th floor is used only for receptions, management meetings and things like that, so basically the whole floor is totally empty. People took advantage of this immediately and plenty just settled down to rest some after a long night. After all, they could stay until the end of the Nuit Blanche at 7 a.m.

Obviously, the view was very nice.





The tower next door had a message.





These are the reading rooms bordering the interior pine forest.



It would have been nice to light the trees a bit at night.







I admired the plumes in Ivry from afar.







The streets were still a bit busy at 1:30 a.m. in outer Paris.



There was a very brief wait to go back down.

I managed to get the last metro back home and arrived at 2:10 a.m. Two metro lines were running all night, plus all of the night buses, but the normal metro is so much more convenient.

Rendezvous next October...