After two weeks off the grid here, I'm back, having finished my 60 pages of papers and one exam! It's been a busy end of the semester, but relative to how things went the last four semester of law school, this was pretty relaxed. Plus, being in Paris makes everything better - obviously.
I'll have more pictures to share once my cousin arrives and we begin truly enjoying the holidays here, but I want to share a few in the meantime. First up, here's one of the windows from Le Bon Marché, the huge department store on the left bank. I've now taken pictures of windows at all four major department stores, and while I think the Prada windows at Printemps were my favorite, I enjoyed these a lot too:
We've had cold but gorgeous weather here in the last week or so. Lots of clear, blue skies! I've gone on several long-ish (5-6 mile) runs taking it all in, including, of course, my favorite:
In addition to the forthcoming pictures of lights and Christmas trees, there are other signs of the holiday season around the city, including more than one of these bottle recycling containers (each over five feet tall) that have overflowed onto the sidewalk in the aftermath of holiday parties:
Speaking of holiday parties, I hosted one at my apartment this past Tuesday. We took a number of group shots, but they all came out blurry enough to make them not worth sharing here. However, those of you know who know me will appreciate how much, on top of the general festive energy of the occasion, I enjoyed looking around me at friends from nine countries (and that's with a few friends from other countries missing) who were alternately speaking English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. We had a LOVELY time, and I feel so grateful to have found such a good group of people here!
Now for some other holiday pictures. Here's the Panthéon in the Quartier Latin; the trees you see in front are all over the city - in front of other significant buildings and in small parks and squares:
Notre Dame has a lovely, VERY well-lit Christmas tree in front. I am also pleased to report that the 850th-anniversary stadium seating that has marred the front view of the cathedral is also starting to be taken down, meaning there will be much better views in the months to come!
Last Friday after getting some ramen near the grand opera house, I wandered around for several hours, walking first past the Louvre and across to Le Bon Marché and then back to (finally) walk through the magical Christmas market on the Champs-Élysées.
Here's the view looking towards the Arc de Triomphe. Don't worry, I will do an entire post just about the Christmas market, so you'll have more pictures soon!
And here's the view back towards Place de la Concorde, from the same spot.
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