Christmas Eve.
NOTE: Again, while writing this, I'm not concerned about French letter accents in words. I'm more worried about blowing my nose! If I felt better at the moment, I might care more! Also, some French words are spelled differently than in English, so if you think I typo-ed, for example, "Galeries" or "Macaron", I didn't. Another thing, I don't watermark because I think I'm a pro or cool. I do it because of Pinterest reasons. Sorry. I felt the need for a disclaimer!
Now that we had actually rode an urban train in Paris, we were pretty familiar with the process, so on our second day and second visit to the city center, we felt more comfortable with our surroundings.
But we still got off on the wrong stop, sort of.
We stopped at Chatelet les Halles station, which we planned to go to Galeries Lafayette from there. This station's exit leads you the inside of a shopping mall-ish place. The kids saw a huge Christmas tree, and decided to go touch it, naturally. It was kind of neat, though. There are four instruments sitting around it, and when you 'play' the instruments, the tree lights up.
The Louvre, for those that do not know, is one of the world's largest art galleries. This is where da Vinci's Mona Lisa stays, Venus de Milo is here, and a string of other famous pieces. It has been said that it would take a person two weeks straight (24 hours a day, no breaks) to see every piece of art inside of the Louvre. Yeah. It's monstrous! Since my GPS told us we were close, we headed in that direction and temporarily put off Galeries Lafayette.
The Louvre was a nuthouse. We arrived around 9:30am, and the lines were ridiculous, so I opted to skip visiting the inside for the time being. I will wait in a line for something that is important enough to me, but time is precious, and the queue at this place wasn't worth my time.
We snapped some pictures of the outside, the famous glass pyramid, and then the Arc du Carrousel behind the museum. I also managed to place my camera on a wall, set the timer and get a few fun family photos.
My name starts with a T, and so does my husband's name. Figured a photo of it could be turned into a cool piece of artwork for the house? We'll see. We also had to do some silly photos together in front of it. I shoot in manual, and this was a dark spot, so my kid didn't have a very steady hand when capturing a few pics of the husband and I. But my son managed to get one decent photo, which counts!
NOTE: Again, while writing this, I'm not concerned about French letter accents in words. I'm more worried about blowing my nose! If I felt better at the moment, I might care more! Also, some French words are spelled differently than in English, so if you think I typo-ed, for example, "Galeries" or "Macaron", I didn't. Another thing, I don't watermark because I think I'm a pro or cool. I do it because of Pinterest reasons. Sorry. I felt the need for a disclaimer!
Now that we had actually rode an urban train in Paris, we were pretty familiar with the process, so on our second day and second visit to the city center, we felt more comfortable with our surroundings.
But we still got off on the wrong stop, sort of.
We stopped at Chatelet les Halles station, which we planned to go to Galeries Lafayette from there. This station's exit leads you the inside of a shopping mall-ish place. The kids saw a huge Christmas tree, and decided to go touch it, naturally. It was kind of neat, though. There are four instruments sitting around it, and when you 'play' the instruments, the tree lights up.
After messing with the tree, we got to ground level outside and I turned my phone's GPS on, and we weren't as close to Galeries Lafayette as I had thought, but there was a rather large cathedral in front of us, which I feel was more impressive that Notre Dame! I snapped a few pictures of it, and looked up it's name: Saint Eustache.
Another thing on my to-do list for the day was to visit Musee du Louvre.
The Louvre, for those that do not know, is one of the world's largest art galleries. This is where da Vinci's Mona Lisa stays, Venus de Milo is here, and a string of other famous pieces. It has been said that it would take a person two weeks straight (24 hours a day, no breaks) to see every piece of art inside of the Louvre. Yeah. It's monstrous! Since my GPS told us we were close, we headed in that direction and temporarily put off Galeries Lafayette.
The Louvre was a nuthouse. We arrived around 9:30am, and the lines were ridiculous, so I opted to skip visiting the inside for the time being. I will wait in a line for something that is important enough to me, but time is precious, and the queue at this place wasn't worth my time.
We snapped some pictures of the outside, the famous glass pyramid, and then the Arc du Carrousel behind the museum. I also managed to place my camera on a wall, set the timer and get a few fun family photos.
 |
| Yes, I really wear glasses. |
The Louvre was a bust, so we cut through the place to head back towards Notre Dame. I really wanted to get on top of that building to stand next to a gargoyle! On our way there, but not quite out of the Louvre's range, I spotted a large blue door that had two T letters on it. PHOTO OP.
My name starts with a T, and so does my husband's name. Figured a photo of it could be turned into a cool piece of artwork for the house? We'll see. We also had to do some silly photos together in front of it. I shoot in manual, and this was a dark spot, so my kid didn't have a very steady hand when capturing a few pics of the husband and I. But my son managed to get one decent photo, which counts!
We walked down the street and crossed the Pont d'Alexandre.
I was on a mission: To get on top of Notre Dame, or at least try to again!
Of course I snapped pictures along the way.
Once again, the line to the Notre Dame tower was closed. AGH! Being that it was Christmas Eve, the line to see the inside of Notre Dame was worse than the day before.
Screw it, and onward!
We went back to the Eiffel Tower because I promised the kids they can go ice skating there at least once, plus I had actually worn a cute dress on this day and wanted my picture taken with a landmark while wearing it. Girl problems.Watching my kids ice skate for the first time was entertaining! I didn't get on the ice because I'd rather be on the sidelines capturing their fun with the camera, and someone had to watch our bags (no lockers or bag attendants). My husband decided to skate with them, and goodness, he looks super sexy out there on skates. Like Jon Heder in Blades of Glory... I was weary of my son getting on the ice, being that he had a surgery to remove rods in his arms less than a week before. AND then it happened: My son fell on the ice. I cringed, and he got back up laughing it off. I un-clenched my butt cheeks and breathed a sigh of maternal relief!
When the kids and 'Blades of Glory' were done ice skating, I got my dressy pics with the Eiffel Tower, which turned out crappy anyway, and we scooted on our way to Avenue des Champs Elysees; one of the world's most famous shopping avenues. I had but ONE mission left in my day: Must find Laudree, and that I did.
I waited in the short line with the family, walked inside, and instantly drooled over the goodies behind the glass. Some of this famous bakery's pastries look too beautiful to eat. If I wasn't squishing my luggage in the car for the ride home, I might have spent god awful amounts of money just to save a Marie Antoinette pastry roll that I could showcase in a china cabinet. A box of 24 macaron cookies is €49.50, which was about $58 USD at the time. Wowzer.
I needed these. I had to have these.
I needed these. I had to have these.
I bought a box of 24 just because I wanted to pretty box they came with (the quantity you buy depends on which box you will receive). I also bought some special blend Laudree tea for my sister and one for myself. Have yet to try it, but go figure, it comes in a pretty keepsake container, too!
The cookies come in 18 flavors, so I got one of each (except black licorice) and asked the lovely mademoiselle to choose the remaining amount based on her favorites. She was also nice enough to give each of my kids a macaron for free while we were waiting to pay! That's about a €8 value of free macarons! I really wanted to buy some macarons for my grandmother, but unfortunately they only keep for three days. Guess I'll have to convince grandma to leave the comfort of California and meet me in Paris someday.
Now that my mouth was done watering after our visit to Laudree, we wandered around Champs, and hit up the Christmas Market that is situated near the ferris wheel at one end of the avenue.
Paris Christmas markets are merde, which means SHIT in French.
Absolute rubbish. Maybe outside of Paris they are lovely, but after being exposed to German markets (where ornaments are hand painted, toys are solid wood, cookies and sugary sweets are baked with care, the aroma of candied nuts takes your breath away, and everything is old world beautiful), this French Christmas market was a major drag, and I wouldn't care to ever see another French Christmas Market again.
Paris Christmas markets are merde, which means SHIT in French.
Absolute rubbish. Maybe outside of Paris they are lovely, but after being exposed to German markets (where ornaments are hand painted, toys are solid wood, cookies and sugary sweets are baked with care, the aroma of candied nuts takes your breath away, and everything is old world beautiful), this French Christmas market was a major drag, and I wouldn't care to ever see another French Christmas Market again.
I'll leave it to the pros in Germany.
The French vendors sell 'I love Paris' t-shirts, tacky key chains, cheap souvenirs, dollar store toys, etc. Um, no thanks. I was so appalled by the commercialism and the touristy distastefulness of this market that I subconsciously didn't care to even snap a photo or two. German markets are touristy, in the sense that they attract millions of visitors, BUT at least they stick to tradition and give you warm Christmas fuzzies.
The French vendors sell 'I love Paris' t-shirts, tacky key chains, cheap souvenirs, dollar store toys, etc. Um, no thanks. I was so appalled by the commercialism and the touristy distastefulness of this market that I subconsciously didn't care to even snap a photo or two. German markets are touristy, in the sense that they attract millions of visitors, BUT at least they stick to tradition and give you warm Christmas fuzzies.
Giving up on the Paris Christmas market, we walked in the direction of the nearest metro/train station, and called it a day (or by this time, it was evening). Hopped on the train, landed in Serris, and settled in our apartment for the night. One of my favorite Christmas traditions that we have in our family is watching Harry Potter, so we turned the laptop on, wired it to the tv in our apartment living room via HDMI, and plugged in our movie hard drive. I also got some shots of my macarons during movie time before tearing into them like a starving feral cat rummaging through a trash can. I knew they wouldn't last long, and a picture lasts longer.
A perfect & delicious way to end a memorable Christmas Eve!
A perfect & delicious way to end a memorable Christmas Eve!
Comments
Post a Comment