Paris by night

"One night we hit the town....At eleven-thirty, we drove up to the Place du Tertre, where we struggled past the barkers and milling tourists in the narrow streets. At the Lapin Agile we paid two thousand francs and squeezed our way to some stools in back. The air was foggy with tobacco smoke, and a chap played boogie-woogie on an upright piano. We ordered brandied cherries, but they never arrived. Finally, a man with a good baritone voice sang four traditional French folk songs, and then we crammed our way outside again and breathed deeply in the cool night air. We strolled along the terrace in front of Sacre-Cour to stare down at the city. Paris was serene and quiet in the moonlight, and seemed to stretch away to infinity.
      "...We headed off to the Left Bank, where we found a jolly nightclub called Le Club Saint-Yves....The audience was made up of simple folk, all French, who were obviously having fun. What the singers lacked in voice, they made up for in personality and verve. After the club closed, at 3:00 a.m., we went on to Les Halles and walked around....It was cold and dark, but the vast marketplace was beautiful under splotches of yellow electric light. As dawn lightened the edges of the sky, we found ourselves at Au Pied de Cochon for a traditional bowl of onion soup, glasses of red wine, and cups of coffee. At five-fifteen, we straggled home."

~ Julia Child, My Life in France