Though it looks like it wants to rain, the sky kindly resisted its urges to open up on our first day in Paris. Following Notre Dame, we trotted across the bridge to the Hôtel de Ville, which has been home to the city's administration since its construction in 1628*. Like any worthwhile political building, the Hôtel de Ville is wrought with plenty of scandals, murders, deaths, riots, stabbings (not fatal), fires, arrests and in my personal experience, gleeful community winter activities, such as ice skating.

*The actual site has been the location of the city's administration since 1357, but the original building was torn down by King Francis I to build the Hôtel de Ville in the 1530s. Correct, almost 100 years of planning and construction.