Faire la fête

I'm wondering who thought, "hey let's drink pure alcohol then spit it at fire?"

Les filles au pairs!



Sing this blog entry to the tune of Tom Petty's "American Girl." I'll start you off:
"Oh yeah, alright,
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night (make it last all night)
She was
An American girl."

This song perfectly fits the tone of my weekend, the mini-trip to la fête des vendanges, a festival to celebrate the harvest of wine-making grapes. Upbeat, fast-paced, hopeful, and more than a little naive. It also helps that a pretty amazing wine-infused rendition was performed in our hostel, singing impromptu karaoke along with the portable ipod speakers on the bed.

The trip started in grand fashion, complete with dramatic sprinting entrance to the "voie"(platform) right as the train pulled up. After the hour ride to Neûchatel, we arrived at la gare and realized how crazy the festival actually way. Screaming, drunken teenagers surrounded us on all sides, and it was only 9:30! Of course we had to find our hostel first, which turned out to be no easy task. The trainstation was on top of a steep hill, and upon first descent I was kicking myself for deciding on my adorable, hot-pink wheely suitcase. Cobble stone, steep hills, and throngs of intoxcated youth...yeah, backpack would have been the smart decision. Finally arriving (or shall I say dragged by my out of control, rolling valise) at the main street, we realize we have no clue where to go. Armed with only the hostel address, we ask one man, who in turn asks an older couple, who proceed to telephone the hostel, and walk us there through the crazy masses of people! I was in complete shock by such an amazing random act of kindness, that I barely even noticed that I was whacking people with my suitcase every 2 seconds as I attempted to navigate la foule (crowd) and the cobblestone. Speaking French all the way (yay!), we finally arrived at our destination and bid au revoir to these nice people, complete with the Swiss "three point bise" (kiss on the cheek 3 times).

We arrived at the hostel to find our funkily decorated attic room missing beds-- we were to sleep on matresses on the floor, 2 inches apart from each other, with a mere curtain to separate them! To our (shock, intrigue, I'm still not sure what is was) we found 7 Caribbean-French guys and 1 girl also in the room, some sitting at a table drinking/smoking, some sleeping in their curtained pseud0-rooms. After I got over my intial, horrified thought ("oh my god what if these guys sleep naked, and toss and turn in their sleep") we chatted with them in french, and found out they were a DJ/dance group from Martinique, here especially for the Fête! We drank Martiniquais rum and red bull, and were taught the Martinique way to say "cheers" (San-TAY-o, the french way with a different accent). I also smoked some MJ with them, I figure when French-Caribbean musicians offer, you must accept.

Going out that night was fun, yet really overwhelming. The streets were wall to wall people (especially drunken teenagers, there were SO many of those), with different music playing everytime you turned a new street corner. Scents of every kind of ethnic food imaginable waft through the air, while confetti was thrown at you nearly every 5 seconds (one of the trademarks of this festival). It was a completely engrossing, multi-sensory experience. We drank some wine (I had found 20 francs on the ground so of course I bought), and soaked in the sights, sounds, and smells until 3am.

Saturday was for sleeping in, exploring the the street vendors, and eating sinfully delicious food. I had an amazing Gauffre, a sweet waffle with nutella and incredibly thick Chantilly (whipped cream). We all went out bought groceries, and had an amazing dinner of bread, cheese, pasta with leeks and zuchinni, and of course, wine :o) We ate, drank, and were merry in the hostel, then took our party to the streets. We maneuvered throngs of people, danced when there was a good beat, and did our own renditions of a number of long forgotten yet loved songs. I found kindred spirits in these girls who also loved musicals, and we all broke out in unison with "Any Dream Will Do," from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. I was flooded with wonderful memories of when I was 9, and got to miss school to go with my mom's class to see the play. I had memorized the entire CD then, yet hadn't listened to the songs in over 10 years. But apparently the lyrics were tucked away in the recesses of my memory, and I belted it out right there on the dock of the lake with the best of em'. It's funny how you can forget of things you once loved, and rediscover them with nearly the same intensity a full decade later....

The rest of the night included drunken bumper cars, more dancing, and of course finishing off our leftovers once we were back at the hostel. Sunday was uneventful, except for the amazing chocolate eclair and cappuccino I had for breakfast before heaving back to Geneva.

As a matter of fact, since it was also Toby's 4th birthday sunday, I had dessert for breakfast lunch and dinner that day. A fitting sweet ending, to the extremely rich main course of the weekend.