You all probably thought I died or something...

White nights.

07.10.07

I come from the city of white nights. Everyone knows St. Petersburg has the best ones—mid-July until end of August, the sun doesn’t quite go down. Ideal for strolling at 3am, it’s not cold there during the summer even, imagine that people. Lovers, couples, shady people…you get it.

So Paris tries to do the same thing, except for crammed all into one. Good idea maybe. Great idea if you pair it with a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal. Any and all bars were packed to the brim; there was no chance of seeing the game thus. Even at Hotel de Ville—city hall, where there were huge screens for all to see, the crowd was so dense and huge that we not only suffocated but were also unable to see the game.

(I did sing the Marseillaise with the French people though. Even better than that one time in the middle of APUSH class in 10^th grade, when Xian Wang and I busted out into the French National Anthem. Good times).

As an aside, France did beat New Zealand, the first-ranked team. There was much happiness and crazi-hood. I would have not dared to be a New Zealander then in France it would not have been pretty.

The Tuileries gardens were gorgeous tonight. An other-worldly fire display consisting of pretty much…fire made the night for me and my companions. Besides the fiery bush/chandelier/god knows whats, there were also alternately powered chimney-looking things which blazed on command of fedora-donned black-clothed fire wardens as I shall call them. I even succeeded in taking some sweet-ass pictures that indeed do resemble fire (and something purple-lit, probably barium chloride or one of those heavier rare-earths, maybe strontium iodide. I mean all the cool flames are just earths/rare earths mixed with halogens, so it’s hard to estimate.)

The other ‘modern’, ‘post-modern’, and ‘contemporary’ art installations slightly eluded my gaze and even when they didn’t they didn’t dare compare with the fiery magnificence of the magnificent fire. It helps that I like the color orange, a lot. (My cell phone service, btw, is also ‘Orange’.)

So yes, if anyone has Skype and wants to talk, let me know. My Skype ID is seva.rodnyansky