Joyeux Noel

I spent Christmas 2004 in Paris. 

Another single friend and I were tired of the holiday routine and both had time off at Christmas, so we booked a flight to Europe! We spent about 5 days in Paris and 5 days in London with 1 day in transit that included an afternoon in Frankfurt. It was my second visit to Paris, also at Christmas time, so this time I wasn't as awe-struck by the architecture and beauty of Paris (which are both amazing and I can't wait until the boys are old enough that we can go as a family!); no, this time I was struck by the amount of UGLY Christmas trees that seemed to lurk in random places!

Let's start with a peek at the tree in our hotel's lobby:

Don't you love the splotchy flocking? It was done after the tree was decorated, so the sad, limp garland and sparse ornaments are flocked in places too.

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Let's head down the street and see the trees for sale in the flower shop:

Red flocking anyone?

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Next, let's head over to the Christmas Eve service at Notre Dame. I bet the huge tree out front will be spectacular!

Spectacular, eh? Good thing they put up the guardrails, cuz the tree seems to be missing ornaments on the lower section. How did they hang the garland? Just throw it up randomly and hope it stayed?

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On the way home, let's check out the festive trees at the cafe down the street.

Not too bad! Rather sparse compared to what I'm used to...

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It's Christmas Day and we're headed down the Champs Elysees.

I wonder who took the time to tie on all of these bows? Is that why they only had time to throw the garland at the other trees?

These are quite refreshing after the ones we've seen!

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So, Christmas is over. What do Parisians do with their trees?

Why, leave them leaning against buildings, of course! (Um, you forgot a bow.)

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These trees were left on the front steps of a cathedral:

Wouldn't you want to take the decorations off before you abandoned your tree?

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Hope you enjoyed our Parisian Christmas tree tour!

Joyeux Noel!