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.