For whatever it's worth, the large French Embassy parties in Washington, D.C. (there are several per year) have been getting excellent ratios lately. Quite a lot of attractive women show up for them, both alone and in groups, and many of those women seem to go hour after hour without a single guy talking to them. (This was particularly striking at the Valentine's Day party this past February 10th, when significant numbers of nicely-dressed-in-pink women seemed to spend their whole time at the party standing around looking forlorn, with many of them ending up leaving early.)
The next one of these parties is the Bastille Day party on Friday, July 13th (2012) from 7 to midnight. Go to http://www.la-maison-francaise.org/start.htm and click on "Special Events" for information. The French Embassy is at 4101 Reservoir Road, N.W. in Georgetown, about a half-mile walk from Wisconsin Avenue and about a mile walk from the heart of Georgetown at Wisconsin and M. It's accessible by cab from the Dupont Circle or Foggy Bottom Metro station, or by the D6 bus (which runs quite late) from the Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Metro Center, Judiciary Square, Union Station, and Stadium-Armory Metro stations. It's also sort of accessible by any of the buses that run along Wisconsin Avenue. I wouldn't advise driving there, because that'd mean you'd need to limit your drinking to almost nothing.
Of course there's no guarantee that you won't experience some of the well-known D.C. attitude when talking to the women at these parties, but I get the impression that in general they're a less hardened bunch than the ones at the D.C. bars. Particularly since a lot of them seem to be new in town or just visiting, so that they're comparatively unspoiled.
By the way, one thing you won't find at these parties is a large number of native French-speakers. There's just a smattering of them, mostly Embassy personnel, with many of those being party staff rather than attendees. So if you're thinking of trying out or showing off your French conversational skills at one of these parties, you probably won't have much of an opportunity.
The next one of these parties is the Bastille Day party on Friday, July 13th (2012) from 7 to midnight. Go to http://www.la-maison-francaise.org/start.htm and click on "Special Events" for information. The French Embassy is at 4101 Reservoir Road, N.W. in Georgetown, about a half-mile walk from Wisconsin Avenue and about a mile walk from the heart of Georgetown at Wisconsin and M. It's accessible by cab from the Dupont Circle or Foggy Bottom Metro station, or by the D6 bus (which runs quite late) from the Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Metro Center, Judiciary Square, Union Station, and Stadium-Armory Metro stations. It's also sort of accessible by any of the buses that run along Wisconsin Avenue. I wouldn't advise driving there, because that'd mean you'd need to limit your drinking to almost nothing.
Of course there's no guarantee that you won't experience some of the well-known D.C. attitude when talking to the women at these parties, but I get the impression that in general they're a less hardened bunch than the ones at the D.C. bars. Particularly since a lot of them seem to be new in town or just visiting, so that they're comparatively unspoiled.
By the way, one thing you won't find at these parties is a large number of native French-speakers. There's just a smattering of them, mostly Embassy personnel, with many of those being party staff rather than attendees. So if you're thinking of trying out or showing off your French conversational skills at one of these parties, you probably won't have much of an opportunity.
