Diner en Blanc started in Paris. It's a surprise location pop up picnic at an unlikely urban setting. Attendees bring one guest, wear all white, bring a white table and white chairs and their own dinner. Last year was its first year in Philadelphia, and the bestie and I lucky to score a spot. We made the walk to our meeting location and were led to Logan Square for an amazing dinner location. The fountain on as the sun set made the first year in Philly an instant success. Last year's registration got me on the A-list for this year. Whether he liked it or not (read: not), Joe was on the hook for 2013 as Heather was to be Chicago for work.
Unfortunately the date came faster than my planning. White table? Nope. Chairs? Definitely not. And men's white pants? Um, hell no. Hello Amazon Prime. It's a beautiful offering. Free two day shipping on two perfect white folding chairs and the only men's pants available. Eek, dare I reveal a men's 30x34 white slim fit taper. They should have simply written "snug. really snug" in the description online. Whew. Safe to say that they will magically get 'lost' in our move this weekend, I'd say. Anyway, they solved the problem of Joe's attire and our seating. A quick mouse click later and I'd rented yet another stunning dress from Rent the Runway. (Don't know of it? Definitely Google it. Best decision ever.) White dress. Check. A bonus buy: the tan rolling picnic basket from Amazon. Best $40 ever spent. Ever. The table didn't come so easy. White, square, no more than 32" square. Walmart, Target, Ikea, Kohls, Kmart, Home Depot and Staples. No, no, no, no, no, no and no. Oh boy. Lowes to the rescue. We'll order it online and quickly pick it up at the store after work on Wednesday. Despite some questionable customer service and 90 minutes in Lowes, the table did come home that night. Whew. Okay. A quick Whole Foods stop on Thursday at lunch and we'll be all set. ...and this is just the planning phase.
By 6:00PM on Thursday, Joe and I were making our way to our group leader's meeting location: Market East Regional Rail entrance. It was pretty clear that this year would require a train. I didn't spend a lot time speculating on the location because its always impossible to figure it out. After a short wait we were instructed to take a train to 30th Street Station and wait for instruction. Hundreds of people in white attire piling onto the train with tables chairs and various forms of picnic baskets. My apologies again to the poor folks who were simply trying to get home from work. Talk about a [confusing] nuisance for them!! Before we even pulled into 30th Street it was clear that the location was setting up on the JFK bridge between 30th Street Station and 21st Street. Traffic was diverted, almost 3000 people were piling in and the city was continuing to muscle through their nightly routine around us. Beautiful.
Dinner was tasty and our table-mates to the left and right were lovely. But it was the conscious thought to stop and look around that was truly fascinating. Looking down over the bridge, people are running on the River path; looking to the right to see people making their way home on 676. These people are still caught up in the monotony of the ritual on a Thursday evening. Luckily, for just a few hours, I was able to put a pause on that life and enjoy the moment.
Dinner was tasty and our table-mates to the left and right were lovely. But it was the conscious thought to stop and look around that was truly fascinating. Looking down over the bridge, people are running on the River path; looking to the right to see people making their way home on 676. These people are still caught up in the monotony of the ritual on a Thursday evening. Luckily, for just a few hours, I was able to put a pause on that life and enjoy the moment.
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