Today
we walked and walked and walked. The
Paris Christmas Markets are spread all over the city. We focused on five markets in the central
part of the city. We walked down the
street to the market in the Tuileries Gardens. It was right at the end near the Louvre and had views of the Louvre as a backdrop.
This one features a large Ferris wheel and many children’s rides.
And
the usual stalls...
with food and merchandise.
We
then walked to St. Germain de Pres where our research told us there was another
market. This one was a good bit smaller
and basically was a series of shops around a church. We bought Christmas presents for Chloe and
Liam and then headed out to the Notre Dame Cathedral for our next stop.
While making our purchase we saw a "car" (a Twizy) back into a non-parking space between two parked car. It was amazing how little space was needed to park this thing.
Along
the way we found a vegetarian restaurant and stopped for lunch. They had a really awesome chili (that didn’t
really taste like chili but, again, was really awesome). And as usual, we had a lovely time walking the streets of Paris. There is always something to see.
The
Notre Dame Christmas Market was just across the bridge on the Left Bank. Again, the market filled the small square with
the Notre Dame in the background…pretty special.
We
then trekked over to the Ile Saint Louis for Bertillon ice cream…best in Paris.
Then
it was more walking, this time with a stop at Hotel de Villa (city hall) where
there were a very few shops and a carousel.
We
then found Les Halles. We have never been
here on our previous trips so we were covering new territory. This is a major shopping area and there was a
huge open air area covered by a massive, sweeping dome. The markets were spread out around the plaza...
which was near Notre Dame de Victories Cathedral.
By
then we were getting back where we had started so we headed back to the hotel
for a bit of a rest. Mary logged 25,000
steps today and Paul over 20,000 (covering the same distance…leg length makes a
big difference in the count).
About
5:00 we headed to the metro for a trip up to La Defense where there was the
largest Christmas Market in Paris. As it
turns out we got off at the wrong station and had to walk a ways to find the
market. No problem though, along the way there was a very
long esplanade with many beautiful light displays. Most of them weren’t particularly Christmasy
so it is possible that these lights are here year round but, regardless, they
were beautiful.
We
eventually found the markets at the base of the La Defense Arch.
We had to go through a security check to get
inside. The selection of eateries and
shops was a bit different from other markets.
Although many of the items were similar there were also a lot of leather
goods and more clothing.
One of the more notable exceptions to the "standard stuff" was the red (tomato), green (basil) and blue/purple (lavender) cheeses. Guess they do make for a more festive cheese platter but still????
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