Let's go on pretending that the light is never ending...

I first heard the song the title of this post comes from ("All the Years" by the band Beach House) back in March (thanks to the shuffle function on my itunes) and I immediately thought of the solstice and long summer nights. Something about the line just really struck me as the period from the end of May until June 21st, the whole lead up to the summer solstice, is my favourite time of year. And even though it stays light out all July, and much of August and even a bit into September too, I always feel a tiny bit sad on the morning of June 22nd knowing that the solstice has passed and sooner, rather than later, the days are going to start getting shorter again. It's a nice thought to think I could pretend that the long days will last forever, but I don't think I'd be able to keep up the pretenses for long, probably because I know I wouldn't appreciate the long days as much if winter and dark nights didn't exist.

I have had some really fun summer solstices. On the solstice just before I moved out of my Hilgard apt at the end of June, 2006 I invited a few people over for dinner. Then after we ate we went up on the fabulous roof of my building (see pictures (one above, one below) taken from my roof another night, but you get the idea of what a view it was!) and drank wine, ate raspberries, ate alfajores that L. made, enjoyed the sunset over the Bay, and luxiariated (is that even a word?) in how long the light hung around after the sun dipped out of view.

The summer solstice is a big event in Paris. Every year on June 21st, they have Fete de la Musique and there are events and free live music all over Paris. (I wonder if they do anything similar for the winter solstice?) The sun sets around 10 pm in June in Paris, and it doesn't get fully dark until after 11 pm. On the solstice in 2007, I went with S. and C. to this cafe/bar on the Canal St Martin (the same canal that Amelie visits in the movie!) that we went to sometimes during the daytime too. I liked it because you could take your beverage and drink it sitting on the edge of the canal. It was super crowded on the solstice, and oddly enough we were inside for most of the night as they had set up the bands in there. But it was a lot of fun.

The next year, I happily found myself in Paris again, this time with C. who was visiting me/travelling around Europe. We had a very relaxed but still so fun solstice. We walked down my street - rue des Batignolles - a bit where they had lots of music going on. And then we walked over to Place St Georges (see picture below) around 10:30 pm, which is one of my favourite little spots in Paris. I like it because it's small and quiet but so pretty. I also discovered it by accident, which I liked. I had a friend who had a friend who lived near it, but I'd never seen it. Then one night I was walking home and decided to take a different route and somehow ended up in it and thought it was really charming. It's also in the 9th arrondissement which is totally underrated in my opinion. The 9th has lots of cool cafes and streets but it doesn't get as many visitors as some of the other parts of Paris. C. and I just sat in Place St Georges for a long time that solstice talking and talking, while people walked by and music played in the background, and the light slowly entirely faded. I have a few pictures of us that we (of course) took ourselves that night and I actually put them away and rarely look at them because while they make me a bit happy, they make me more sad. Happy because that was a really great night and our conversation was really wonderful, and sad because a lot of the things we talked about that night played out in ways we maybe suspected deep down they would but really hoped wouldn't.

Another thing I love about this time of year is how early it gets bright in the morning. I don't think I was actually cognizant of the fact that June means longer brighter mornings (and not just evenings) until last early June when I got back from Japan and had the worst jet lag I've ever had. I would wake up around 2:30 am (after going to sleep around 10) and be unable to get back to sleep until around 6:30 or 7 am. From about 2:30 to 3:15 I would try to get back to sleep (I read an article on the Huffington Post that recommended counting backwards from a 1000 in 3s, so I tried that... but didn't have much success); then at 3:30 am I'd accept sleep wasn't coming and would just turn my light on and read for a while. Although one night I woke up craving chocolate chip banana bread so at 3:20 in the morning I found myself baking. Around 4:30 it would start to get light out and then the birds would start chirping and it was really nice. I would eventually get back to sleep when it was already bright out. Interesting side note: Japan doesn't have daylight savings time so during the summer the sun rises there at 4:30 am, meaning it gets bright even before 4. When trying to adjust to their time zone when I first got there, I woke up around 4:15 unable to sleep anymore. I went to the window and looked out to see the sun rising. It was a big orange ball in the center of the sky which made the Japanese flag, and Japan being known as "the land of the rising sun", make a lot of sense.

The lyrics right after the title of this post go "so we still have the summers, let's be good to one another..." On that note, I wish all of you a happy solstice, and a lovely light filled summer! (And I really recommend Beach House!)