December 4th, Part Two: Even More Paris

After finishing up our cider, we took the metro to our next stop:

Notre Dame. Might as well check out more beautiful old cathedrals while we could! And in hindsight, I'm so glad we were able to get here. We had visited Notre Dame the first time we came to Paris in 2012, and I doubt anybody could have guessed that just a few months after I took these next pictures, the cathedral would be in flames and the roof would be gone. I'm so glad we had the chance to visit again before that happened, and while it was really hard to watch the cathedral burn, I'm glad it mostly survived and I'm looking forward to visiting again someday.

Anyway, back to December...

There was a giant Christmas tree out front. And really, that was one of the coolest parts about our time in Paris on this trip; it seemed like the entire city was decorated for Christmas, and it had such a cool feel.  :)

I took a couple more pictures outside...

...then we made our way inside.

The stained glass here is absolutely gorgeous (and I think almost all of it survived the fire, thank goodness).

One of the big Rose Windows. I think the high ceiling directly in front of this one caved in during the fire.

We wandered all through the cathedral. In the back, they had a series of holiday scenes out on display.

Another Rose Window.

We made our way all around the cathedral...

...before eventually winding up back at the entrance. A couple parts of the ceiling about halfway down caved in during the fire, too; it was so crazy to watch the news coverage, then look back at these pictures and see what it had looked like just a few months earlier.

At any rate, we finished up inside and made our way back outside.

The detail is incredible; everywhere you look, there is something ornate to see.

We walked around the south side of the cathedral. There were some pretty flowers in the garden...

...and a really cool view of one of the Rose Windows from the outside. The tall spire in the background is the one that collapsed in the fire and fell through the roof into the cathedral.

We continued past the cathedral, then cross a bridge heading south. There was a great view from the bridge; it's still crazy to me that the entire roof and the spire are gone now.

We were getting hungry by then, so we stopped at a cool cafe for some quiche and coffee and a fancy pastry. The view of the cathedral in the background was a neat touch.   :)

After stuffing our faces, we wandered around through the surrounding neighborhood a little bit and found this cool garden.

The buildings over here are so cool.   :)

We eventually made our way to the Jardin du Luxembourg; that was really pretty, too.

After wandering around for a bit and enjoying the clouds and the view, we hopped in an Uber to our next stop...

...the Eiffel Tower!

I took a ton of pictures as we walked closer...

...and closer.

We had a bit of time to kill before it got dark, so we decided to stop at a small cafe nearby for a snack.

I can't say I expected the meat and cheese plate to be quite so massive, but it was all tasty (as was the wine).

It was pretty dark by the time we finished stuffing our faces (again), and we got back to the Eiffel Tower just in time for one of my favorite things about it...

...the sparkly lights!! The first time we came here, I had no idea it did this. We just happened to be walking directly underneath it when it started sparkling, and the entire crowd seemed to gasp at the same time. It's still one of my favorite Paris memories.   :)

We stayed until it stopped sparkling, then eventually got an Uber and started making our way back toward the Louvre so we could check that out, too. We got distracted along the way, though.

Distracted by a Christmas market!! Holy monkeys, I had heard about European Christmas markets but had no idea they were so cool. There were vendors with all sorts of amazing-smelling food, all sorts of odds and ends for sale, music, carnival rides...anything you could think of, they seemed to have it. It was fantastic.

Among the many things they had was a small pool where you could go in an inflatable bubble and float around. It was pretty funny to watch people knocking each other over.

There were some pretty funny displays, too, like this Christmas...zoo? It was full of giant stuffed animals surrounded by wrapped presents.

We wandered aaaaaallll through the market, then eventually started making our way east...

...toward the Louvre.

It's so pretty at night.   :)

We wandered around for a little bit, enjoying the view, then made our way to the Sherry Butt, a bar that Mark wanted to check out. I somehow didn't get any good pictures here, but I did get some good pictures at our next stop...

...Golden Promise.

We managed to get a seat at the bar and both ordered Old Fashioneds. We happened to start talking to the couple sitting next to us, and it turns out they're from Washington DC! Steve and Carrie are both big whisky fans, so we hit it off right away.

This might be the fanciest Old Fashioned I've ever had. It's made with Blanton's, the bartender hand carved, then branded, the ice cube, and it had chocolate candy on the side. It took the bartender almost 15 minutes to make. It was fantastic.

We sipped our Old Fashioneds and talked whisky and other things (like the Paris protests - some of the action had happened right outside Steve and Carrie's hotel room the previous weekend!) for a bit, then Carrie asked if we knew about the speakeasy. We had no clue about any speakeasy, so we followed them through an unmarked black door in a small hallway, and found...

...this.

Holy crap.

There were two rooms, and they were both lined wall to wall with shelves of rare whisky.

So of course we ordered some.   :)

The bartender, Kimball. (I think that's how you spell his name!) He was fantastic; he had a good sense of humor and really knew his whisky.

I think Mark may have been in heaven; there were so many cool things everywhere you looked.

We spent a while in the speakeasy with Steve and Carrie, and definitely did some damage. This was the aftermath - it had been such a good time! We eventually said goodnight to them after exchanging contact info, then walked back to our hotel, packed a little, and went to bed. I think we definitely made the most of our one day in Paris!   :)