À la patinoire

Les Marches Noël runs along a good portion of the Champs Élysees all the way to Place de la Concorde from November 11-January 8. Small white stalls sell gifts, souvenirs, food and even vin chaud, a crowd pleasure. I'll be honest, it's not one of my favorites, but as I needed to get from Avenue George V to Tuileries, walk through it all I did. I stopped to enjoy the little ones at this small skating rink. This cute petit garçon and his Papa, were having a very good time.
, 

Grand-père et moi

I think this little girl was lucky enough to have her grand-père join her for a spin around the ice rink at the Hôtel de Ville.  From the looks of her coat and pants, I think she might have taken a spill or two!

Les Petits Patineurs

Granted this photograph is not well composed, but I think it gives a true flavor of the skating rink at the Hôtel de Ville.  The smallest were scooting all over as best the could,  holding onto the wooden walls or pushing the cute and colorful little scooters!  The city had kindly provided an area just for the little ones so they could get around without being run over by the more accomplished skaters.

For my Birmingham AL area readers, I'll be teaching From Snapshots to Photographs again starting the end of this month at Samford University. Please join us!

Slipping and Sliding at the Hötel de Ville

Last year ( and I'm assuming this year as well), the city of Paris created a giant ice rink in front of the gorgeous Hôtel de Ville ( Paris City Hall).  This is a poorly composed photograph but I thought you might enjoy it as I did when, on closer inspection, I noticed the petit garçon in the right corner who was struggling to keep from falling.  I wish I'd noticed him at the time and I'd have stayed with the little fellow as he learned to skate!

Winter at the Hotel de Ville

Today I only left the apartment for a short while. Mary G and I were suffering from a stomach bug , so I don't have hot off the camera shots for you today. Instead, a look at the fun going on at the Hotel de Ville ( Paris City Hall). A large temporary skating rink has been installed and a gorgeous carrousel as well.

UPDATE: We decided to get out tonight and took a cab to la Tour Eiffel, and I got a few decent shots. I'm adding one for your viewing pleasure!