Wowzer! "Dîner en Blanc" - Thursday, 16 June

OK, so I'm walking back to the apartment after supper.  I stop on the bridge by Notre Dame to take another shot of this astonishing church and its setting right on the river.  Another typical evening in paradise.

UNTIL, that is, I get to the top of the bridge and come across 3,500 people (according to one article I read) in fancy white dress having dinner with wine and champagne and candleabras and gifts and what-not on the plaza in front of the church.  Yikes!  What was this, a huge wedding reception???  Nope, it was apparently a "Dîner en Blanc" (or "White Dinner"), held every year at a different locale in Paris.  Another 6,500 people were at the Cour Carrée du Louvre (apparently there wasn't a venue large enough to accomodate all 10,000).  Participants are required to dress in white and bring their own food, cutlery, dinnerware and wine to the event.  The invited guests board buses at pre-announced (only to them) locations/times and aren't told the venue of the event until en route, just before they arrive, but the event planned about six months in advance by a very small group of people and the venue is kept secret from the authorities until the very last minute.  What began as a chic picnic among a small group of friends twenty-three years ago is now an annual event in Paris, Montreal, Quebec, Hamburg, and soon in New York.  I need to find out how one gets on the guest list!

And what a concept!!!!!  Wonder if it would work in Minneapolis, assuming that an appropriate venue could be found and the city statutes wouldn't prohibit such a thing.  (Not that one would have to ask permission, of course.)  I must work on it. Anyone out there want to help???