On the Saturday night of the Homecoming weekend, a Soiree was held at Musee des Arts Forains for the parents, staff and friends of the American School of Paris.  Tickets were like gold and we had luckily purchased one for Kelly, knowing in just enough time that he was coming. We left home after Greg and Brianna had left for their evenings out and took an uber to be at the venue for about 8:00pm.

The museum venue, is filled with the private collection of Jean-Paul Favand, an actor and dealer of antiquities and amusement attractions from 1850-1950.  It was a magical setting with the drinks and food all included and they were divine!!  Massive steaks were being grilled outside over an open fire by 3 chefs and then the meat was sliced fine and served all night long fresh at the many banquet tables that were overflowing with French delicacies. Champagne was abundant and between trips to the bar we tried all of the Parisian fair rides and games that were there to enjoy.

There were shooting gallery games and vintage carnival items as wooden carousels, German swings, and the famous “Manège vélocipédique” from 1897, a carousel of bicycles powered by the pedalling of its riders.  There were five large open bars (yes, all included!) and fantastic music was pumped out all night long..It was hilarious at times and competitive at other times. So much to enjoy that we wished it would last much longer than it did!

Here are some videos of us on the swing, bicycle carousel and Chris gambling on his French waiter winning the race:

 

In the last hour we hit the dance floor and closed the place down…things were getting silly by that time:

Lightsabers and baguettes became our dance props…

Afterwards, we decided to bus into Paris’ center since it was provided for free, but when it dropped us off…we had no idea where we were. We had all drank too much champagne and we had jumped on a randomly provided bus and then it was 3:00 am and we were stranded near Les Halles.

So, we did what any responsible parent would do and called our son to order us an uber from the ‘location’ we dropped him. Greg did that, but the uber didn’t find us and canceled on us. Eventually we ran to the uber who was nearby and had to be bribe him ($$) to drive us home because he had already canceled our ‘order’.  He didn’t speak any English (as is usual here) and so Holly sat in the front and tried to tell jokes in French the whole way home. It took her 20 minutes just to tell one about an elephant in a tree…   So painfully funny at the time as she struggled for all the words in French. We got in after both of the kids and it was amazing to all of us that Kelly was still standing.    # Best night out in Paris!