Week 134: Christmas in Paris

It’s December, so of course we had another busy week! Matt worked every day at the school (apparently a lot of teachers want to take off in December) and the kids had the same school activities just about every day.

Monday night, a friend and I visited the Bruchsal Christmas Market. Bruchsal is about an hour north of us, near Heidelberg. The market was small, but cute and we were able to find glüwein and langos for dinner.

On Wednesday, Matt, a friend, and I visited the Tübingen International Chocolate Festival, chocolART. The festival is held for five days each December and has a unique theme each year. This year’s theme was Colors of Latin America. Vendors from all over the world come to sell their chocolate, offer chocolate and praline tastings, and display chocolate sculptures and paintings. As it was last year, it was packed, but we did manage to sample and buy some chocolate and fudge, and have a glüwein.

Thursday was Matt’s work Christmas party at the Sindelfingen Winter Hut. Since we knew we were leaving the following morning, we ordered light. We had the Käsespätzle, Germany’s version of macaroni and cheese, and gulasch soup. They were both so good! This was our first time this year eating in the winter hut and hope to get back at least one more time this winter.

On Friday, Matt, Ryan, and I departed for Paris to meet up with the O’Rourkes; Brooklyn stayed home with friends so that she could attend the first home wrestling match. Originally, we had planned on taking the train. However, on Thursday our train, along with just about every other train in Germany, was cancelled due to a rail strike. After weighing the many options, we decided to drive. Unforuntately, the O’Rourkes had passport issues, so they missed their Thursday night flight. They did manage to get new flights on Friday, but would arrive a day late on Saturday.

We got up early on Friday and started our drive to Paris. When it got closer to lunchtime, Ryan asked if we could find a Pitaya for food. Pitaya is a fast food Thai chain restaurant that we’ve only found in French countries. We did a Google search and found one in Reims so decided to make that our stop for fuel.

After we had lunch at Pitaya, we walked down to the Reims Christmas market. This market was a little different; it was previously held in the cathedral square, but this year was moved to a park and fenced off. We went through metal detectors and had our bags searched in order to enter. Once in though, we found the market was pretty big and not too crowded. We did a loop of the stalls while I had a Vin Chaud. Unfortunately, there are no mugs to be found in France, but the market itself was pretty nice and would be fun to visit again as a standalone visit. Since Reims is the capital of the Champagne region, there were several vendors offering champagne tastings and lots of French food on offer.

We arrived in Paris by mid-afternoon, got the car parked, and checked into our hotel. Then, we almost immediately headed out. Our first stop was Galeries Lafayette department store to see their Christmas decorations. We made it to the third floor of the store, which I thought offered the best view of the art-deco ceiling dome and the suspended Christmas tree below it.

Unfortunately, we found that most views of the dome had been blocked off by sales displays. In recent years, the store has been overrun with tourists trying to get a picture of the tree. They crowd up the store and never make a purchase (ourselves included) so the best options left if you want to see the tree are to make a reservation in the coffee shop or restaurant overlooking the dome, or wait in the hours-long line to view the tree from a platform. I found a short clothes rack and held my phone over my head to snap the picture below as a French sales associate told me to move along. I got really lucky with the one shot below.

We almost left the store before I remembered there was a terrace with a great view of Paris. I am so glad we did not skip this! The sky was clear and a beautiful shade of dark blue, lit by the city lights below. The terrace overlooked the shopping district, Opera Garnier, and the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We secured a spot on the railing and realized that the we were within minutes of the Eiffel Tower light show so stayed put and watched. It was so pretty!

After Galeries Lafayette, we walked around the neighborhood, looking at the window displays. There was a group outside of the store protesting fur. They were a little annoying, but had a catchy chant that quickly got caught in our heads. We found ourselves repeating it all weekend.

When we left the shopping district, we headed to Montmarte. First, we stopped at the Montmarte Christmas Market. The market itself was small but did have a huge stall selling macarons, which we bought a couple of.

Then, we walked up the Mont, the goal to find the first restaurant serving Onion Soup, and then eat dinner there. Luckily, the first restaurant we looked at, Les Rendez-vous des Amis (The Meeting Place of Friends, in English) had Soupe L’Oignon.

The restaurant was small and cozy and decorated for the holidays with Christmas lights strung across the ceiling and ornaments hung from the light strands. I had soupe l’oignon and pommes frites, and Matt and Ryan had burgers. We finished the meal with creme brûlée and chocolate mousse.

After dinner, we finished our climb up Montmarte to Sacre Coure, where the church choir was singing on the steps with torches. We stayed for a few minutes and listened while taking pictures of Paris from the steps of the church, which is the highest point in the city.

When we were done, we walked back down Montmarte, doing some shopping at souvenir shops, then we took the metro back to the Arc de Triomphe, where our hotel was.

We made it back to the hotel and went right to bed.

Saturday morning, the O’Rourkes finally arrived. We stored their luggage in our room and then headed straight out. We had breakfast in a bakery and then headed to Hôtel de Ville where we visited the Christmas Market. The market was a good size and not too crowded, but this was due to the fact that there really weren’t that many stalls. It was still really pretty and there was a free carousel. Since it was raining at this point, and not that crowded, the kids took several rides before we made them get off so we could move on.

We crossed the river onto the Île de la Cité, the oldest part of the city. We veered down some streets to check out the Christmas decorations throughout the neighborhood.

Finally, we made it to Notre Dame. It is still in the midst of construction after its fire in 2019. I was surprised to feel really sad being there and seeing it so damaged after the accident. We got a couple of pictures and then continued our walk.

Afterwards, we crossed the river again, this time in the other direction into the Latin Quarter and found another Christmas market at Fontaine Saint-Michel. We had another Vin Chaud and then walked around the Latin Quarter until we found another restaurant for lunch that served Onion Soup.

We were all pretty tired at that point so we went back to the hotel for a quick nap after lunch. When we were refreshed, we headed back out to see the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Square. We timed our arrival almost perfectly, arriving just a few minutes before the tower started its hourly sparkle. We took some photos and then stayed for the light show.

Afterwards, we walked down to the river side where we found a Swiss themed Christmas market. We all grabbed a Vin Chaud or Hot Chocolate for the walk and continued walking down the river.

We walked all the way to Place de Concorde, which was almost a mile from the Eiffel Tower where we started. It was beautiful to get to see Paris lit up at night on our walk down the river. We shifted direction and then continued towards Tuileries Gardens where we visited the Tuileries Christmas Market.

Once we reached the market, we all got dinner from the big grill station at the entrance and had some vin chauds. Afterwards, we walked the whole market, stopping to shop and buy treats. The kids also got to ride a couple of rides before the night was over.

We finally made it back to the hotel after the market, where we had a night cap before turning in.

Sunday, our family got up bright and early to hit the road back to Stuttgart. We were the only car on the road that morning. It was a beautiful drive out of Paris. Matt made a wrong turn that took us on a river side drive, passing all the major sites before we left the city. I wish I had taken a video, it was so pretty. But, I am glad I was able to enjoy it in the moment.

We all had an amazing time in Paris! I love all things French, especially Paris. The weather has been absolute trash in Germany lately, so it was nice to be able to escape the rain and freezing cold for a weekend. The city was absolutely beautiful for Christmas, and the food and wine delicious. The company made this weekend one of the best. For me, going to France is like going to Disneyland and it keeps getting better. There are still a few Christmas themed activities we missed despite our busy schedule so I hope we can come back another year, next time with Brooklyn.

We made great time on our drive and were back in time to pick up Brooklyn and the dogs, and then get Brooklyn to her Christmas Piano Recital.

We ended Sunday with a visit from some our friends, and Gigi the dachshund.