Paris
One of the nice things about living in the South of France is that it suddenly becomes much more affordable to visit Paris. So we decided to go to Paris for a weekend to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere and decorations. It is known as the City of Light, so we expected to see lots of Christmas lights ! It was cold, but didn't rain much, and we were able to get around just fine. We did the big touristy things, of course.
So below is a picture of all of us atop the Arc Du Triomphe with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The view from there is great and you can see how big a city Paris really is. It just goes on and on, is pretty flat, and has a big river cutting right through it.
The best place to see the Christmas lights is walk along the Champs Elysees at night. So that is what we did. Below is a picture of Patti standing on the Champs and taking in all the lights. You can tell it was cold by the way Patti looks ! It was incredibly crowded, people everywhere doing all sorts of things. But you can see how nice the lights are. We walked the entire length, which is a pretty long way. Jeff walked it all by himself as well. At the other end of the Champs Elysees is a giant Ferris Wheel that they built for the Y2K festivities. It is very brightly lit and Jeff could hardly wait to ride it.
One of the best ways to see alot of things is to take a riverboat ride on the Seine. They have an English language tape that describes what you see as you chug along the river. Stuff like Notre Dame cathedral, the Louvre, the Tour Eiffel, all that stuff. But the tape wasn't really all that informative. The guy kept droning on about what a great city Paris was and how it was the world capital of culture, the capital of fashion, blah, blah, blah. All I could help thinking was that Paris is also the world capital of being occupied by Germans. The world capital for being bailed out by Americans, and the world capital of laying down your arms at the first sign of trouble, and the world capital for chopping off heads for no good reason. Plus, when the guy is talking about French culture he uses quotes and references from people like Hemingway, Gershwin, and Sinatra. Last time I checked they were Americans !
Oh well, Parisianers are a different breed from the rest of the French. I think most of the bad reputation the French have can actually be attributed to Parisianers. Here is a picture of us riding the riverboat wondering what the Germans see in the place anyway !
Despite my pettiness and corny references to French WWII failures and German fondness for the place, we actually had a very nice time. Paris is a very fine place to visit with lots to do and see. It was our second visit and our second fun time there. So we would go again.
Updated Fri Dec 22, 2000 7:14pm EST