Noël, Noël

 Last night we went out to see some of the holiday lights that have been put up around the city. There are decorations on a lot of the streets - Oberkampf, for example, has some lit up stars hung across it that remind me of the ones they hang up on the main street in Virginia, MN. But some areas are particularly known for having light displays. One of them is the Place Vendome, below.

Another is, of course, the Champs Élysées. From the Place de la Concorde to Place FDR, there is a big Marché de Noël with a tons of stands selling cheap jewelry, jars of foie gras, chocolates, and piles of useless trinkets, mixed in with others selling mulled wine and hot chocolate and other snacks. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to see.

Père Noël, the big man himself, was hovering above the Marché in his sleigh (with a crane to er, supplement the reindeer power) and giving a rousing speech, describing his Christmas routine. It was much as you might expect : "Je mets tous les cadeaux dans mon gros sac noir, et puis je l'installe dans mon traîneau..." etc. (I put all the presents in my big black bag, and then I put it in my sleigh...)

Here's the Champs Élysées with the trees all lit up, and us standing on the pedestrian island between lanes of traffic.

After this we went to the Relais de l'Entrecôte to complete our tourist adventure with steak frites. For those unfamiliar, this is a restaurant that serves nothing but steak with fries. The first thing the waitress asks you is "quelle cuisson?" (how do you want it?) to which you reply, "bleu" or "saignant" (rare or medium rare). The sauce is supposed to be some kind of secret recipe, light yellow-green and definitely containing some tarragon and a little mustard, but we weren't sure what else. Internet searches later suggested chicken liver and cream as well. In any case, we heartily enjoyed it and went home stuffed.

Even if we weren't going anywhere, there wouldn't have been space for a Christmas tree in the apartment. However, we did pick up one little bit of festiveness. Here is our new, official Champignon de Noël.

(it is actually a Finnish mushroom, but I guess that's appropriate)

 Tomorrow, however, we are packing up our Christmas Mushroom and going to Spain (although there is a snowstorm threatening to mess up our plans, so I'm knocking on wood as I type this). We plan to walk around on the beach and maybe visit the Sagrada Familia cathedral. We will be in Barcelona until the 25th, then in San Sebastien for a couple of days, then Bayonne, then back to Paris for New Year's Eve. While Christmas in Spain sounds sort of glamorous and lovely, I'm quite certain it won't be as wonderful as rushing around around Minneapolis and St. Paul and having the very great privilege of seeing all our family and friends.