Majesty...and Gelato

 Tuesday night after more pastries and a falafel, we went to an organ and choir concert at Notre Dame.  It didn't start until 8:30 and we kept joking that we were going to flake out, but not until the last minute.  I'm so glad we didn't flake.  My dad loves organ music.  Plus, as a tourist, you shuffle through Notre Dame with throngs of other tourists without really getting a chance to take in the majesty.  With a two-hour concert, you can sit, ponder, reflect and listen while studying the architecture and supreme divinity of man's offering to God in the form this massive cathedral.  You don't forget an experience like that.

The children's choir was pretty good.  How could they sound bad with the acoustics and their sweet, pure voices?  They sang a program of music from the Mass (Kyrie Eleison, etc) and different liturgies.  But the organist was incredibly articulate and the sound - you can't even describe it.  The dense chords filled every recess of the cathedral.  (Incidentally, Ruby wrote a report on the concert for extra credit in English and her teacher rejected it because the concert wasn't a "play."  I'm speechless.)

 Rainy night in Paris in front of Notre Dame, strolling down the Seine...cue accordion player!  This guy was a character!

We saw several of these Do Not Enter signs where someone had put the sticker of the man apparently carrying the white bar away.  I think it's funny.

And my trick for getting kids to appreciate classical music:  Never deny them their after-concert treat!  We kept taking pictures that, when you switched back and forth between them fast on the camera, made it look like you were taking bites of your gelato.  Hey, it kept us laughing.