The average night in Paris isn’t something that is easily described, nor is it difficult to imagine. No matter where you are in Paris, you are surrounded by history – monuments, buildings, streets where Audrey Hepburn once roamed, streets where Napoleon marched his soldiers. The mere activity of just walking, riding a bike or hailing a cab to ones destination is magical all in itself.


Fouquet's

Champs-Élysées

Pre-drinks on the Champs-Élysées at Fouquet’s are nearly taken for granted until you can learn to look beyond the crowds of tourists and the 21st century advertisements. They should create goggles so it would be possible to experience such an amazing moment in its truest form. Realizing where you’re standing is limited until you actually see pictures of 17th century madams and messieurs standing in that exact same spot wearing dresses big enough to host a circus and hats high enough to pitch the tent. A tacky club, Dream, hosting the ‘best Disco night’ every Monday, almost taints the whole mise en scène (almost).


Cha Cha

La Tour Eiffel

A night in Paris is a night not to be taken for granted. No night ever should be. That being said, A-List bars, private clubs, places where you are expected to know ‘Tony, you know, the tall bartender who always wears a fedora?” aren’t of your utmost priorities. It’s the realization of where you are that is important. The feeling of pure euphoria that the city gives you will sweep you off your feet faster than any French man ever could.

For example, one cab ride to Cha Cha (a trendy bar where knowing ‘Tony the bartender’ helps) you’ll see the Eiffel Tower sparkle just a few short blocks away. The closer you creep towards the club, you’ll eventually pass by Place de la Concorde where the oldest monument in Paris stands tall – aged at approximately 3300 years, the Obelisk of Luxor. Take a sharp left shortly thereafter and the Place Vendôme will engulf you – a square that is home to numerous luxury shops and the famous Ritz hotel. Straight ahead: the Palais Garnier Opera house which inspired the novel ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.


Place Vendôme

The Opera House

You can decide to head straight for your destination, or numerous pit stops can be taken in an attempt to try and experience several different types of nightlife in Paris. O’Brien’s is a classic Irish bar – every city in the world has one of these. It’s a great place to just be yourself, have great lively conversation with the staff and play darts while drinking beer until eight in the morning if you make friends with the bartender. Drinking well beyond an appropriate hour can be expected in several places.

Dock is a fancier version of O’Brien’s. You have disco lights, strange nautical themed decorations (see: inflatable killer whale), a TV cycling through drunken photographs of previous guests and the music is always head-bopping worthy. Crowds always form outside the bar for several smoke sessions – a law forbidding smoking indoors has finally been passed in Paris (although, some bars have created ultra small smoking closets). And at Dock, they will gladly become your friend on Facebook for the small price of a pint (7 euro = approximately $14CDN)


O'Brien's

Dock

Soon you’re going to reach Cha Cha – an exemplary Paris club. Complete with small crowded rooms, zero air conditioning and a bar pouring $15 vodka sodas. Forget hot yoga – a club soaring to temperatures just over 30 degrees Celsius with hundreds of people and high-energy music is enough to sweat the pounds off. Smoking rooms are provided but not recommended – who needs to buy cigarettes when one could just sit in one of these rooms and inhale for a millisecond? The rooms are so crowded that once you get your $15 beverage it’ll be hard not to spill approximately $7 of it onto some unsuspecting victim. The secret: upstairs in the music room, where one can just pick up a guitar and play, there’s usually a spur of the moment sing along to a variety of songs ranging from The Beatles to Britney Spears.

Juliet balconies are common fixtures...

...as are sidewalk food kiosks
 
Somewhere around 5am you might find yourself heading for the comfort of your bed and a steady breeze. You’ll pass all the same monuments, feel the same euphoric sense of awe and wake up the next day looking forward to your next cab ride to any given restaurant, bar or club.

by Marayna Dickinson
All photos by Marayna Dickinson