A Night at the Museums Part II

Sorry to leave you hanging on that last post. I promise, it's worth the wait.

Our final stop of the evening was the nef (nave) of the Grand Palais. Like the Petit Palais, the Pont Alexandre III, and several other Parisian landmarks, the Grand Palais was constructed to host the 1900 World's Fair. It's an immense building, different parts of which host various temporary exhibitions. (The nef has also been known to host basketball matches, according to Damien.) Normally, tourists can only visit the nef under the auspices of an exhibition, but we got to see the vast empty space for the architectural pièce-de-résistance that it is.

With its fabulous Art Nouveau-influenced ironwork, its awe-inspiring proportions, and the fancy colored light projected everywhere, we would have been satisfied just seeing the place. But as befits an event as noble and epic as the Nuit des Musées, a surprise awaited us: the perfume maker Francis Kurkdjian had designed an art installation that floated thousands of light-refracting bubbles through the nef's voluminous interior.


We found ourselves in a surreal universe of sheer joy, where all was sparkling, luminescent, weightless. And yet again, this wasn't enough, for Kurkdjian's bubbles carried scents that contributed to a sense of euphoria in everyone present. From various corners of the hall, the magic bubble machines broadcast waves of pine, citrus, lily-of-the-valley (perhaps in honor of May 1st?), and other olfactory delights to the eager and receptive noses of anyone not suffering from allergies.

The installation inspired wonder in its audience, transforming jaded, tired adults into giggling, re-energized children. If that was one of the goals of "La Nuit des Musées" as a whole, then I say: Mission accomplished.