Easter preparations

Being a largely Christian and Catholic country, Easter is a pretty big deal here.  Being France, food is one of the most important parts of the festivities.  And among food items, Easter chocolate is one of the most important.  For the last 2 weeks all of the patissieries (bakeries) and chocolatiers (chocolate shops!) begin displaying their artistic wares.  Here are some of the more normal products, chickens, eggs, and bunnies...

There are also some more exotic chocolate critters, such as squirrels...

..frogs...

...pigs (for you bacon and pork lovers)...

and, of course, the traditional Easter gorillas (and whatever that critter is on the right)...

Another interesting tradition is church bells. Starting Good Friday, no church bells toll. (Makes sense with the notion of somber Holy week). The historical evangelical story is the bells go off to Rome (to be blessed). Then, Easter morning, they return and spring back into action. (Or another bit of rebirth). Lisa, as a teenager who likes to sleep late, has been annoyed by the bells since we have arrived in this apartment.  So she is REALLY looking forward to the bell's silence, more than maybe even chocolate.  Deb and I have found ourselves a bit disoriented without the automatic timekeeping every half hour.  We even had to rely on our stomachs to told us it was lunch time today!