Christmas in Paris Day 2

Dec. 25

I had worried that the day would not be special or something the kids would remember because we brought NO presents, not even our stockings.  Instead it was going to just be a day spent together.  It surpassed all expectations I had when I planned this trip.  We had been told about the American Cathedral in Paris – this cathedral is protestant and we went to the early service for the traditional hymns, a change from our normal praise and worship style of music. 

The service was beautiful and the music very comforting.  Afterward we took a tour of the church.  One very special lady was on the tour, the wife of the late President of the American University – started in the basement of that church.  The other unique story I will always remember is the one about the organist / music director, Edmund Pendelton.  He was the only person left at the church during WWII to keep the services going.  At one point the Nazis came looking to arrest his and he climbed up into the pipes of the organ, pulled up the ladder, and watched as they searched for him.  What a story! 

After our tour of the church we were off for lunch on at 58 meters up … on the first level of the Eifel tower!  The day itself was actually a little cloudy; however, the lunch was wonderful and the ice skating was great!  Both Clark and MJ loved ice skating, thought it was much better than roller skating.  Within 10 minutes MJ had the basic walking motion down and Clark was ready to be on his own in 20 minutes.  It was awesome!  We were just on that first level for over 4 hours. 

As we left the Eifel tower they lit it up and we were able to look back on it over the Christmas market and just be amazed. 

After dinner, we went back into Paris to take in the lights along the Champs Elysees; which traditionally were draped in white lights.  This year they had decided to do a very modern look, not exactly what we were expecting, but the shopping, eating, riding roller-coasters and sliding down the big slides.  It was a late, but memorable night.  A genuine reminder that it is not about the material gifts we give, but the love that is given and shared.  There is no greater love than that given to us by our Lord God and He shared it in abundance with our family that day.  For the rest of the photos from Dec. 25

Christmas in Paris

Dec. 23-24

We actually celebrated Christmas, the gift opening part on Sean’s birthday.  The next day, Dec. 23, we got on the train to spend a week in Paris.  The train ride itself was amazing.  It is normally a 5 hour drive without stopping to get from our place to Paris; however, the high speed train had us there in 2.5 hours.  The absolute fastest I have ever traveled on land. 

After picking-up our subway and museum passes we headed out to Joe’s house, a Westtown classmate, to find out about taking care of Chiedel, their whippet, while they took a vacation in Italy.  It was great to see Joe and meet his wife and 2 sons.  Chiedel, their dog was very easy to take care of and it was a great exchange.

Our first day for sight-seeing was on Christmas Eve.  We had planned a half a day walking tour of the original city of Paris, located on the island in the middle of the Seine River.  The morning was spectacular and after getting our Starbucks coffee next door to the Louvre we headed out of the New Bridge (Pont Neuf), which is the oldest bridge in Paris.  All along the way Sean read to us about the history and events that were significant.  We saw the park where the Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burned at the steak on Friday the 13^th thus it become a day known for “bad luck”.  Then we headed to Place Dauphine followed by Le Concierge, which is now the Palais de Justice

Le Concierge: this was the original palace of Paris (1284-1314) before the Louvre was built.  In 1391 it became the first prison of Paris and would hold it’s most famous prisoner Marie-Antoinette.  Her original cell was turned into a chapel; however, they have recreated her cell and it offers a true juxtaposition of her room at Versailles.  The grand ballroom area was turned into an art gallery and they had an interesting modern art of animals display at the time.  MJ found the art fascinating and the rest of us found the history intriguing.  We really need to find an art lover to wander around with MJ because she is definitely out numbered when it comes to where we want to spend our time.  After a leisurely and delicious lunch …

Notre Dame: the line for getting in seemed really long; however, it was actually really short compared to the length of the line we would see every time we came that way again.  It is magnificent and inspiring.  We really didn’t think about the fact that it was Christmas Eve and that we were entering around 4pm.  We did however, take it ALL in … looked at every alcove, talked with the kids about all of the saints, treasures, and rituals that go into Notre Dame.  Visitors are only to go in one direction and as we came around from the back to start walking up the left side, we noticed that the lights were dimming on the manger scene and the organ and choir were warming up.  As we came around the corner I was surprised to see that every seat had been taken, the lights were on, the organ was playing and the choir was singing “O Come All Faithful” (Latin).  We just stood there, watching the processional of the catholic hierarchy coming down the center isle with a “Baby Jesus” in their arms.  It was amazing.  It was incredibly moving and I stood there with the tears rolling down my checks as I felt the presence of the Lord moving through me.  Even amongst rituals, foreign languages and thousands of people God can still find us, touch us and remind us that it is love and relationship that are all that really matter.  I was in the right place with the right people to celebrate and fully remember why we celebrate the birth Christ.

We finally left Notre Dame and realized that while we had seen only a couple of things on the list of "must do’s" of Paris, we had truly taken in Paris at Christmas.  This link will take you to all of the photos from Dec. 24.

Baden-Baden, Germany

My mother came to visit for a few weeks starting in November and leaving December 14. Unfortunately we have discovered that this is not a great time for company. The days are short with little sunshine, the kids are in school and don’t get the Thanksgiving holiday because Germans don’t celebrate the American Thanksgiving. Plus it is a very, very busy time of year for a doctor in the ICU.
I had done a lot of research on Christmas markets in the area and really wanted to go to a little town in the Black Forest; however, we didn’t have enough time and with the weather being cold and rainy we decided we would go to Baden-Baden, also in the Black Forest, which would provide us with public transportation instead of driving in nasty rain. So, we hoped on a train on Fri., Dec. 3. Upon our arrival we decided to not navigate the public transit while trying to find our hotel – so we paid about 22€ for a taxi to take 5 people about 5km; we did navigate the public transit for the trip back to the train station.
Fortunately our hotel was right near the bus station and also a walking path into the old town. The rain had finally slowed down to a mere drizzle (think Seattle) and we were bundled appropriately for the walk into town. They did have a children’s cookie baking tent so the kids got to make roll out Christmas cookies. I find this to be the perfect solution to making our own sugar cookies, they make just the amount they are interested in and I don’t have to do the rest . They also have “stained glass windows” of the Christmas story done by children in the local schools – some of them were really beautiful
Baden-Baden is famous for their baths which means the richest people in the country/world come there and the shopping is geared toward that crowd. I saw boutiques in the town that are normally in Paris and 5^th Ave NY, NY. Some of the most beautiful and odd window shopping I have ever done! The diamond encrusted dog stroller was the topper. The actual Christmas market was medium – large sized. They did not have the hand-carved items from the black forest that I was hoping to find, but they had some really cool toys, alpaca wool items and great food.
Some of the more interesting parts of the city are focused around the hot springs they have there. They have a hall which is presently used as the TI (tourist information) center that was once a place where pharmacies could come set up and utilize the hot water running into the building. MJ was shocked at how warm it was, as was Sean …
 
The water is  cooled from 68°C (154.4°F) to between 30-40°C (98-105°F) depending on the bath. The thermal water was discovered and being used for “health” purposes over 2000 years ago and the Roman bath ruins are limited because the present day baths are built in the same places.
The 2^nd oldest item in the town was a small church with an “Ölbergruppe” from the 15^th cent. It was great for a moment of reflection and remembering what is truly important in our lives.
We also saw some of the most decorated buildings there that we had seen in all of Germany:
  Plus the bicycling Santas!  It was a fun weekend and I’m really glad we went, but next time we will head there in the spring or summer so we can enjoy the gardens, castles (2) and cathedrals.