Paris, visa, party and falafel

Enfin, Finally, I made it to Paris for one of the free Sundays. The plan was Sainte Chappelle and the Conciergerie, pick up Tweedledum, drop him to the Louvre, then the Orangerie and the Musee Marmottan.
Yoga in the morning threw the plan just a little bit awry. Got into town at 10:30 and headed straight to church and I am so glad I did. The place is spectacular! When I entered, the view was as above and I was left wondering what happened to the altar. Where's the church, dude? But then, fortunately, I spotted some stairs in the corner. Headed up and what do I find...the church is on the first floor. No walls - only stained glass windows! Depicting the entire story of the bible. Genesis, Moses, Noah and well, of course, the Passion of the Christ. The story goes that Louis bought all the ancient relics from Constantinople and they were housed here - the crown of thorns, the cross and the rest....not the holy grail, of course.
As for the rest of the day, when I got to Tweedledum, found him in a bit of a fix because he had to head back to complete an assignment with Alchoholics Anonymous. No Louvre for him...and no Orangerie for me. Worked till late into the night..him on his assignment, me on my balance sheet. But I just wanted to be with him. There was no way I was going to stay home alone...

Monday wasn't together again. Brazilian birthday bash. Everyone - good fun! Netanyahu - such a drag:-/

And then today.
Winter is here, though I wonder when autumn crossed us by. I remember seeing the Eiffel from the Place de la Concorde in summer. It was a clear sight. This was the view today - it just floats into the clouds.
The visa process took a better part of the morning (and I hadn't carried anything to read - trust my luck). Finished and headed to La Defense. This was meant to be more of a tick off exercise, just to see the mall - Quatre Temps. You know - the 'been there, done that' bit.
Next stop-Hotel de Ville for a photo exhibition by Doisneau. The images were well captured, the displays were phenomenal. The best was 'La Maison des Locataires'. It was the picture of a facade of a building lifted off the wall (to give a three dimensional effect) wherein some of the houses were cut out and replaced by pictures of the insides of homes with people busy at their personal tasks. Didnt think I could capture it with my camera. Now, I regret not having tried. At least, I could have shown Tweedledum a little bit of it. What I did get back for him is something I thought he would appreciate a lot more. Its so much us. Me giving gyan on some aspect of history, or religion, or art and him having discovered true art;-)

Another beauty - Paris defined.... He captures the moment so exquisitely.

There was one of two boys gazing into a toy shop window. The desire, the longing - even the husband upstairs (at the art shop window) doesn't have it that bad.