Batofar has a canteen?

Something about getting up at 5h00 yesterday really knocked the wind out of me, and I wasn’t even sure that I was going to go out tonight. I spent the majority of the day taking care of some work, looking up my teaching materials for my English class next week, and catching up on blogging. By about 19h00, a Canadian friend of mine called to see if I was interested in going out for and apéro (pre-dinner drinks). In the end, she ate an early dinner, so we turned the date into post-dinner drinks.

We started off at a café near my place called L’Autre Café, where we were seated in the cheap seats (since we weren’t eating). After a couple of “pots” (half-litres) of wine, I got a text message from Fantômette, who was going to be spinning at the “cantine” of Batofar (i.e., the top deck, rather than the club in the hull below). It was close to where my friend lives, so we decided to head out together and check it out.

Up until the last minute, I was still unsure about whether I was really going to go out at all. I was feeling lethargic and I was having trouble mustering the enthusiasm to dance until 6h00 the next day. Nonetheless, I was glad I finally went over to Batofar to see Fantô, as a large part of the “Frenchy Krew” was there was well, so I was able to chat with everyone in a context that was more conducive to conversation than a full-on nightclub.

Mind you, the volume was still set pretty high in that little dancefloor. The “cantine” was the deck level of the boat, including a small covered area, which was maybe 30m2 in total. Although the feel of the space was more bar than club, the drink prices were emphatically club-like (i.e., 10€ for a basic mixed drink). Fieldwork is an expensive enterprise in Paris, I tell you.

Anyway, I got to see Fantô spin for a while, then hung out with the whole group and introduced them to my Canadian friend. By about 2h00, I was feeling tired and kinda done for the evening. There was a Freak’n’Chic party going on at the Rex, but the idea of heading all the way over there and waiting in line just to see a set of DJs I’ve seen several times before just wasn’t very enticing.

My friend and I were going to start heading back home together, but she disappeared as I was making my goodbyes and I couldn’t find her. After making a few attempts to call her, I gave up and headed home on my own. I discovered later that she had made some other friends while waiting for me to leave and so she had gone back into the club and we had somehow missed each other. Ah well, at least she got home safe!

Anyway, I hopped on a Vélib bike and headed home, which was a welcome bit of exercise after a day spent mostly sitting down in front of my computer.