Marchés de Noël. Christmas Markets.

Hot wine, baked goods, and Christmas lights. I have really caught the Christmas spirit this year. Perhaps it's because we're experiencing it in a very different way. The Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets) have been a delightful and exciting part of December. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed to find that most of the booths weren't selling originally, hand-made, or traditional items. Actually, we found pretty much the same things at each market, including magic scarves, magic wallets, and magic wooden boxes. Yet, it's been fun strolling around, drinking vin chaud and eating beignets. We even found a few Christmas gifts.


Marché de Noël Number 1: Champs-Elysées. Beautiful lights but we went on a rainy, muddy day. This is a picture of the little roller coaster and fake snow.


Marché de Noël Number 2: La Défence. This was my favorite one because the set up is like a little village. We went with our new friend Katie F, who took this picture of us with our vin chaud.


Marché de Noël Number 3: Notre-Dame. Very small but kind of cute.


Marché de Noël Number 4: Trocadéro/Eiffel Tower. Nice set-up and, obviously, great location. We also went ice-skating here, but Tom's supposed to tell you about that....

Christmas Markets take place all over France, but it's really a German tradition, I hear. The best ones in France are supposed to be in Strasbourg, a city on the German border. We're a little disappointed we won't be able to see Strasbourg at Christmastime, but we're really excited to be spending Christmas with a French family in Nantes! We leave on Wednesday.

Now, of course, a little vocabulary I learned or encountered at the Christmas Markets:

Le Chalet - Stand/Booth

Le Vin Chaud - Hot Wine

Le Chocolat Chaud - Hot Chocolate

La Barbe à Papa - Cotton Candy (literally Papa's beard! hahaha- by far my favorite new vocabulary)

Le Bonnet de Noël - Santa Hat