Our colds started at the end of the university term and just as we were about to go to Paris for the weekend before Christmas. We did get there, stayed in a nice 3-star hotel and the two days we managed to venture out were spectacular.
We walked up the Champs-Élysées with its illuminations and Christmas market. There were thousands of people there and it was all very festive.
Earlier we had visited Le Bon Marché – the oldest department store in Paris – and watched people buy very stylish Christmas presents and some amazing delicacies in the food hall.
Food is always in important in France, but during this holiday time it does become spectacular. Today the queues were long at local patisseries as people bought their festive specialities like Bûche de Noël, chocolates, macaroons and Galettes de Roi, plus brioches for the foie gras, of course.
We’ve really enjoyed the food, which has been served small and often, rather than the huge ‘pig-out’ on Christmas day that is traditional in the UK.
Christmas day is very much a family day in France, with time to see friends during the following week. Sadly we had to turn down a number of invitations this week in order to nurse our colds and to keep our germs to ourselves.
Spending time at home, we’ve noticed that French Christmas TV is much less of a big deal than it is in the UK, although, as always, there are some excellent dramas and TV films to watch.
The big Christmas day film was Robin Hood Prince of Thieves – which is an excellent film to choose, but there would be outrage in the UK if BBC1 or ITV decided to show such an old film.
So, now we have finished 2008 – the year we came to France – and at midnight enter 2009 – the year we return to the UK.
We still have many more months here, but it is a definite landmark in our year – and perhaps time to make some New Years resolutions, which is a tradition here too.
