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One of these things is not like the others...Although this may seem like a slightly eclectic mix (and how do you tell which one doesn't belong?), Cathedrals, Catacombs, and Christmas Markets can all be found in Paris in December. After a long night in the Istanbul Airport, I arrived in Paris, ready to see everything that I had missed on my previous Paris visit, or at least as much as possible. My first stop on Saturday afternoon was the cathedral of Notre Dame. Though I had been in the cathedral before, I had not gone up to the top - something I have wanted to do since seeing Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame in fourth grade. So I climbed the horribly narrow spiral staircases to meet the gargoyles face-to-face and see a great view of Paris. The gargoyles were magnificent - each one was an individual, with it's own characteristics. It felt like they could come alive and start telling about all of the changes that Paris has undergone. After returning to the ground, I went through the cathedral and admired the stained glass and statues. Then it was off to the Christmas Market on the Champs-Elysees - so I can now say I have been shopping on the Champs-Elysees :)

The next morning I was off to the Catacombs. The catacombs are in old stone quaries under Paris, established in the late 1700s when the cemetaries of Paris became overcrowded. Older bodies were disinterred and moved to the catacombs; the first from the Cemetary of Innocents. The bones were then arranged in different patterns, some geometric and some religious. The catacombs were consecrated, though they are slightly spooky. At the enterance, a sign reads, "Stop! This is the Empire of Death!" and throughout the catacombs are signs (all in French so I couldn't read them) with quotes about death. It was almost like a shrine to death. After I returned to the surface, I made my way to Saint-Sulpice, an old church made famous by the book, and subsequent movie, The Da Vinci Code. Then it was time for more Christmas Markets - this time out at La Defense. This was the most crowded Christmas Market I had yet been to. Since it was already dark, I decided to take pictures of Paris by night. Unfortunately, it started to rain, not much but enough to be inconvienient.

My last day in Paris, I started out at Saint-Chapelle, where the kings and queens of France used to worship and now part of the Palace of Justice complex. Famous for its stained glass - almost 2/3 of it is original - it once housed the Crown of Thornes from the crucifixtion. The stained glass was amazing, although it was difficult to tell what story was being depicted some of the time. With the whole day ahead of me, I walked toward the Eiffel Tower - though having gone up it previously, I had no desire to do so again - and found a lovely, little, uncrowded Christmas Market. According to my map, the Statue of Liberty, sister statue to the one in New York, was only a short walk away. So I wandered down to see it before heading back to my hostel for a brief rest before my walking tour of Montmarte that evening. The walking tour, one of the New Europe tours, was great and, having visited the Montmarte area before, enjoyed hearing the stories behind some of the sites. Some of my favorites were the story of Van Gogh, the last windmill in Paris, and Sacre Coeur.

The next day I spent at Versailles before meeting with my cousin (after some confusion) and Ollie (grandparent's foreign exchange student) for the night. The next day it was up early to the airport and on to my next destination: Dresden.

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