Happy (late) New Year!

Hope you all rang out 2010 with style! We sure did. I nudged the mister awake (he'd been snoring in front of the telly for over an hour) just in time to see the count-down. After that they had the Lido Club dancers perform a number, some of them topless (yes, on national TV).  Let it never be said I am an inconsiderate wife.

Paris was wonderful, although you always come away wishing you'd seen more. Difficult at the best of times, impossible with three young children. The two older kids were great, the baby had his moments. Not that it's his fault - at 15 months all he wants to do is crawl around and explore the world. Being held on laps and strapped into backpacks meant the little man lost his happy thoughts at times.

The first day we spent most of the afternoon in the hotel while baby slept, but we saw plenty that evening.

We started with mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and beignets on the Champs Élysées, which was draped in Christmas lights.

We walked down to the Place de la Concorde (opposite end to the Arc de Triomphe) to oggle La Grande Roue, set up for the Christmas season.

We could see the Eiffel Tower glowing through the Sherlock Holmes-like fog that night.

I really liked this mermaid/merman fountain in the Place de la Concorde (check out the flag - happy accident):

I couldn't figure out if this mermaid was holding her baby or that night's dinner:

And what's the go with this? Since when do merfolk have buttocks?

We jumped back on the metro and headed to the Printemps shopping mall to show the kids the one thing we'd promised them.

Galeries Lafayette's impressive Christmas lights (although I really wish they'd fixed their sign)

Here it is. One of the largest Christmas trees in the world, inside the Galeries Lafayette*.

The whole thing was suspended from the roof by a cable. I had absolutely no desire to walk underneath it.

It was my first time at the GL. The baroque interior of the building is just beautiful with details such as gold gilding, stained glass and hand painted walls.

Then the clock struck 8pm and the baby turned into a pumpkin with a bad case of Tourette's.
We took our numb little faces (it was really cold) back to the hotel for Italian take away (sacrilege, I know).

That's probably enough pictures for now - more to follow soon.

Happy New Year, everyone!

*I'm still not really sure the difference between GL and Printemps - is GL inside the Printemps mall or vice versa? Can anyone help me here?