Blue lights and wet feet

My chocolate-filled advent calendar is so tempting; so smug. Just sitting there, waiting to be opened on the first of December. Why is December taking so long anyway? "6 more days," it smirks. Sigh.
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Leena and I had such a good time in Paris this past weekend. I arrived a few hours before she did on Friday afternoon; so I took a long walk around the islands, the Louvre and the Italian Quarter. I visited this month's Photography Exhibit and I took pictures of the city in all its autumnal splendor. Then I took the RER line B to the Charles de Gaulle airport and found Leena.

That night we ate galettes and crêpes and then walked home in a light rain. Saturday was extremely busy, with classic touristy stops on the agenda. We started by climbing the Eiffel Tower in the morning. Then we went straight to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysée. There was a small Christmas market just opening up at the end of the road so, of course, we had to take a look around. We bought piping hot cups of vin chaud, which is spiced Christmas wine, and sipped at them on our way to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Leena loved Monet's Nymphéas (who doesn't??). We caught a glance (and some photos, see left) of the Musée d'Orsay across the Seine, before heading up the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre. We had to have a late afternoon tea at Mariage Frères, of course, no trip to Paris is complete without tea and scones.

That night, we bought 10 macarons and ate them en route to the Eiffel Tower's light show. Afterwards, we went back up to the Champs Elysée, to see it all lit up with blue Christmas lights. Blue seems to be the theme this year, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower's lights are now blue and the Rue Mouffetard has blue lights strung along it as well.

On Sunday morning we visited Paris' Notre Dame cathedral, where it began to snow! The snow kept up all morning, and was quite beautiful, but it managed to turn into a very cold rain right as we were waiting in a long line to get into the Musée d'Orsay. And so it was with wet feet and a soggy jacket that I later bid Leena goodbye and hopped on the metro that led to the Gare Montparnasse.
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Today I am back in Angers. I am getting ready to go to Munich this Friday, to visit the big Christmas market there. I never thought I would say this, but I may be a bit travelled out after this coming weekend. It is tiring to be constantly on the move, and never sleeping in your own bed. I also need to get cracking on some Christmas lessons for my students (and save up some grocery money!) so a few weeks' rest in Angers may be a good thing for me right now...After this glorious upcoming weekend, that is.