Christmas eve, December 24

I woke up this morning and had a weird feeling. Normally I'd be trying to make a list of all the little errands that needed to be run before the end of the day. I'd also be thinking of last minute stocking stuffers and/or running through a mental list of everyone who I forgot to "tip" and itemizing all those little things to check off my list.

But not today....we're in Paris and the only big thing on the agenda today is to buy foodstuffs for our dinner tonight and to make it over to Notre Dame for Christmas eve service. Unfortunately the weather is really not cooperating. Originally we had planned to visit some little shops over near le Bon Marche, but an awful weather system has arrived off the coast. It is lightly raining, and the wind is blowing and gusting at over 45-50 mph. Since I have some extra time here in the apartment this morning, I thought I'd summarize some of the things we're been doing and also post some miscellaneous pictures that didn't seem to fit elsewhere.

First of all, a reminder of Travel Rule #22 - Sometimes you can't go back and expect to have the same experience. Last evening I got my hair cut again with my "favorite" French stylist Thierry. Since my hair was considerably shorter starting out, the end result was also considerably shorter also. But as they say, "it will grow--eventually." Actually I discovered in today's rain walk, that this new, bouncier, short haircut does better in this weather. (I'm obviously searching for reasons to love my new hairdo.) Unfortunately Thierry was too busy with pre-holiday haircuts to shampoo my hair, but his assistant, the lovely Corinne, also did a wonderful shampoo/massage.

  Thierry, sporting his new crop of facial hair that I hadn't seen in September. (looks scary, I think)

Corinne specializes in cutting men's hair (shampoo massages)

Also yesterday we walked by the back side of the Branly Museum (a showcase of non-European cultures including Aboriginal, South American, African, etc. art, masks and statues.) Since the building is quite new, the trustees have attempted to also contrast the ancient cultures with "green" directions of today. Therefore the entire side of the office portion of the museum is growing with a variety of greenery. I guess this is a sign of things to come in our world.

This is a close-up of all that greenery growing on the side of the building

On the way back from dinner last night we enjoyed more of the Christmas decorations:

Today Rue Cler was filled with shoppers trying to check off items on their grocery list. The shops were ready and full of merchandise:

Fresh strawberries seem to be a holiday special

Not all the chickens had their feathers intact

There were poinsettias and greenery available and also these tulips and roses

Since we were staying near the apartment this morning, we decided to walk around and stop at the food merchants in our neighborhood to collect the ingredients for dinner.  First to the boucherie for a nice roast chicken, then to the supermarche for some vegetables, then to the boulangerie for a nice fresh baguette and finally to the marchand de vin for a wine to go with dinner. We'll be set, we hope, when we return from the services at Notre Dame.

More later...