Parisian Canada Day

One of the best things about living in Paris is the amazing number of events that seem to always be going on. Having grown up in a relatively small town with a limited arts and cultural scene, being in Paris for the last year has been a little bit like being a kid in a candy shop. Museum exhibitions, concerts and music festivals, ballets, free lectures, a fantastic film culture, and a bazillion different festivals and celebrations going on at any given moment...there's always an excuse to turn something into an event, and so as a result, I've been spoilt, and I don't know how I'll ever be satisfied living in any city where the scene is less vibrant. Case in point, last week I managed to score tickets to go to see a special performance of the ballet Blanche Neige (Snow White) by Ballet Preljocaj at an outdoor theatre neptune at Chateau Versailles. Talk about a spectacular setting! The ballet was fantastic, very modern (not a point shoe in sight!) and definitely not meant for children. For you fashionistas, the costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaulthier...it was all very dominatrix and s&m bondage inspired. Best of all, there were fireworks!! I was pretty thrilled by the fireworks if only because it happened to be Canada Day, and I was feeling a little blue about missing out on whatever fun might have been going down at home. There's something pretty spectacular about seeing the night sky lit up with a display of fireworks, with Versailles in the background, and I just don't think that fireworks by Parliament or the National Art Gallery in Ottawa can compete...to top it off, on the metro ride home, I met a gaggle of fellow Canucks who had spent the night celebrating at The Moose, one of Paris' two Canadian bars. It was nice to share the metro with my fellow compatriots, who, even in their varying states of inebriation, managed to be unfailingly polite.

Elsewhere, this last week has been a week filled with very Parisian activities. I've been to the open air market on multiple occasions at Place des fetes, I've swapped existential crises with a friend while picnicking on the banks of a canal, I've waited out several frustrating metro delays (it doesn't get any more Parisian than that!), I've browsed the racks at the summer soldes, and I even managed to squeeze in a visit to the Pantheon to pay my respects to France's political/cultural/historical/intellectual patriarchs (and single matriarch....we can't forget about Marie Curie, the token woman who was deemed worthy enough to be buried alongside the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau and Maubert). Though it's definitely been a charming and idyllic way to pass my days off from work, there's a part of me that is missing a good Canadian summer filled with lazy late afternoon sessions on a sunny patio, barbeques, swimming and just chilling out with friends.