Mele Kalikimaka, Joyeux Noel, Merry Christmas!

from us to you! 

Merry Christmas Eve from Google?

Google created this animation and sent it to me....kinda scary.  So I figured out how to add it to the blog, and here we go!

Les Lumieres de Noel a Paris

Christmas Eve eve we headed out after dinner to see the renowned Christmas lights of Paris.  We hit only two of the high spots, with a couple of lesser detours as well.  There is still time, since they will be up for at least New Year's, and we think until January 6, the end of the Christmas celebration. 

We were not really prepared  for the spectacle at the Champs Elysee.

After taking it in, and miraculously not getting killed crossing the Champs Elysee, we caught the metro to the Hotel de Ville (city hall) which has a temporary ice rink installed. 

 They had a special smaller rink for the kiddies, who could either push a small cart (with or without a smaller child in it), or a penguin figure for stability. 

 Then we went off in search of the Notre Dame Christmas market which was no where to be found, and enjoyed the tree given to the Parisian people by the Russian ambassador.  It seems that several months ago the powers that be indicated that due to austerity measures, there would be no money for the traditional tree outside Notre Dame.  The Russian ambassador wanted to show his generosity and largesse (and the economic power of the Russian economy unfazed by sanctions) so he provided the tree.  We wonder what he thinks about his expenditure now? 

A few days ago we had noticed from our window a building changing color, below in a poor photo, an intense blue, and occasionally sporting kleig lights strong enough to rival the spotlight on the Eiffel Tower. 

We got out our trusty google maps and decided it had to be the Madeleine.  So when we were taking in the evening lights, we made a small detour to check it out. 

 And we were right, it was the Madeleine, with colors changing both front and back, although the mindless google algorithm has separated the photos by color, instead of showing them blending from orange to red to purple to blue.  But still pretty cool. 

Les Grands Magasins

(The Big Department Stores)...in this case Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.  There is an article about them here in today's New York Times. 

The display windows for Printemps were interesting …. if you were under six.  They featured lots of moving characters, appearing to be marionettes, and all wearing Burberry outfits.  They had small raised viewing platforms for the kids, and the kids were awestruck.  There were many adults with their cell phones raised.  We thought they were taking photos or videos, but the article says they were interacting with the displays.  Sadly, the reflections were so bright that photos were hopeless.  

We stopped in at Printemps for lunch in the dining room under the art deco dorm, which has become our go-to lunch stop when we are in the stores. 

Inside the store were giant Christmas trees with toy trains running through them, and scenes from London with moving figures.  

The Galeries Lafayette windows were even less successful to my eye, following their theme of Monstres Noel”, the Monsters of Christmas.  They featured mostly large furry muppet-like creatures involved in various Christmassy activities.  Again with the viewing stands, again with the awestruck little ones.  But not very interesting for the over-6 crowd such as us.  

Inside was the famous upside-down Christmas tree, suspended from the huge dome over the main shopping area.  We took it in from three floors as it turned color from golden to magenta to green. 

After doing a little shopping we walked back in front of Printemps, to see the lights outside the store, again featuring Burberry.   

 

 Then, fairly exhausted, we returned home to a special sunset glow of the city.