Life: Idiotropic

Although we've been in the Notre Dame before, I was still glad to be back and to have the opportunity to take more photos. It is a huge church and full of many beautiful details. We probably spent almost an hour wandering around inside.

From there we wandered over to the flower market near La Cite and looked through the shops with the flocked trees in every color of the rainbow, Christmas ornaments, and beautiful linens from Provencial fabrics. The lavender was amazing. I could have stood there inhaling that sweet scent all day. This is where I saw the row of bicycles - a new program in Paris to try to get locals to bike instead of driving - for residents only. And, where Luci found a couple sprigs of natural pine over where they had blue and hot pink trees and stuffed those sprigs in her pocket where they sat for over a week.

I love going to Paris in the Christmas season when the city is lit up and magical and the tourists are at a minimum, but, the downside is that not only is it cold, but the days are horrible short, so after a leisurely breakfast, the Metro travel, and some walking around, you add in a meal and your day is almost over. We still had a little daylight left, so we went to see the Sainte Chappelle - a church that had been closed when we were there the year before. The church is small and so surrounded by government buildings that you can almost not even detect it from the street. We had to walk through the airport style security devices and put our coats and purses through - not because of the Sainte Chappelle, but because in order to access the church, you must go through a government building. There is not a lot of the church to see, but oh, what there is is absolutely breathtaking. Up a narrow winding stone staircase with barely enough room for me with my purse, you are pushed into a room that is absolutely surrounded on all sides by beautiful stained glass windows. It's amazing and indescribable - one of those special places that fill you with amazement and awe and a true sense of weight - that what you are seeing is more that just visual. Built by Louis IX in the 13th century to house the crown of thorns, it's amazing to me that it's just hidden there among the Palais de la Cite - almost unnoticeable with people flocking to the Notre Dame - a church that is beautiful, but not breathtaking.

The conciergerie was closed when we left, so we missed that and walked back towards the Notre Dame where the kids played at the playground behind the church and Mom and Kirk went shopping. Cold and dark, we stopped for something hot to drink at the corner where they were totally out of dessert (oh, the tragedy of it all!). Still, the girls had delicious cocoa and I had a spiced wine - all warming out hands and bellies.

Warmed and not quite ready to completely quit, we walked back around and crossed the river at Hotel De Ville too see what the giant igloo looking thing was. It was on this bridge that we had a special moment - a saxophonist was playing sweetly in the moonlight. It was beautiful. We walked by normally enjoying the music, and then he started playing the itsy bitsy spider. We all stopped and watched him. The little girls all loved it. A little thing- but it made it special.

The giant igloo that we'd seen before from a distance stood beside a large outdoor ice skating rink sitting just in front of the beautiful Hotel De Ville (which isn't really a hotel). We found our way to the front (sort of) where we could see a little bit of a holiday ice capades that was going on with elves and Santa. Unexpected and fun, the girls loved it. We would have liked to see more, but a large group of young people came up behind us dancing, talking loudly, and smoking, so it was a good time to go before they got obnoxious.

From there, instead of taking the nearest Metro stop, we got distracted by a beautiful large department store complete with holiday decorations and Macy's style window displays. Not wanting to miss anything, we ventured in to the 6 (I think it was 6) story store with everything form high end clothing to craft supplies to toys... I had to see the Christmas section first to see what types of lights and decorations that they had. The lights were fun and interesting, but it was nothing that I "couldn't live without." The toy section was big and beautiful, but oooh, la la! The prices - not so beautiful. So many American toys at double or more the price... and beautiful French toys, but also expensive. Action figures and castle pieces of all kinds, stimulation overload. Loving French children's clothes, I did peak at those... but, the prices are just as high in France that they are in the states.

At that point we did manage to make it back to our apartment on Rue de la Glaciere... walking past a Haagen Das ice cream shop on the way that advertised for their version of fondue: a big bowl of mini scoops of ice cream served with fondue forks and a large bowl of rich, melted chocolate for dipping. Soooo tempting.

You know... it really was a nice day. We had beautiful weather, saw a few things, relaxed, walked, took in the atmosphere, enjoyed a couple unexpected surprises... can't ask for more than that. Paris is just perfect - pomp without pretense. A city indescribable in it's depth of culture and beauty, yet a place where one could live a very normal, every day kind of life very easily. A city for everyone.

Photo: Tiara and Elise on the Metro - complete pros, confident and fearless, even when the crowds got thick.