Lights, camera, Paris!

We've decided to do some Christmas shopping in style - so we've come to Paris - because what sounds better than "oh, we're doing our Christmas shopping in Paris"?

After missing this department store on our summer visit to this incredible city in July, we make a point of heading here this time.

The Bon Marché.

And the store is stunning - two buildings decorated up both for Christmas AND for their 160th anniversary. The store has a fabulous display in the walkway connecting the buildings that show all their historic logos over the years.

Each is marked with the year it was used, right up to 2012's anniversary one.

And back across the Seine to the two other department stores, Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. They have decorated the walkways and buildings with thousands of lights.

As well, Printemps had their windows decorated by Dior ("Hey Chris! Wanna deck the halls for us too?). The displays included moving puppets, ballroom music and giant hordes of people out front of each one.

Up the Champs Élysées the Cartier store was also dazzling in colour changing lights and brilliant white panthers perched on the buildings.

One end of the Champs has a huge lit Ferris wheel. The wheel was made up of enclosed compartments....so we didn't freeze out little Canadian tooshes off...

...while being dazzled by the views over the city....

And up both side of the Champs (before the chic, mortgage-the-house-to-shop-at stores begin) is the Christmas Market. Hundreds of little white chalets sit side by side selling scarves, cheeses, candles, figurines, and a gallons of mulled wine to sip while strolling.

There's even a Canadian booth! So Parisians can stock up on maple candies, maple syrup and enjoy syrup on a stick....rolled right off some snow. It's the only 'country' booth - so obviously the French are enamoured with us....or at least our lumberjack shirts.

So we managed to put together dinner while we perused the wares. First we shared a bratwurst - grilled on a giant circular open grill you could have roasted a whole hog on. With the markets originating in Germany, much of the food is from the region.

The stand also had great condiment dispensers. You get food and a chance to milk the ketchup udder...

To warm ourselves up (as the temperature was around 4c) we split a ripping hot bowl of French onion soup. The stall had four giant copper cauldrons with gallons of piping hot soup. Once you ordered, your bowl was topped with big round croutons and a big scoop of shredded cheese. Soooo good....

For course one of our dessert selection we went with the Churros. The ones served here are shorter than the hockey-rink versions we're used to. But they serve them mini-donut style - they jam a paper cone full of big and little pieces and proceed to pore about a quarter cup of sugar on top of them.

Here's Cassie with her bouquet.

And to finish off with an intense hit of sugar - chocolate covered marshmallow towers. These were like the best Viva-Puffs ever. They come in different flavours including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate-candy cane, gingerbread and hazelnut. Get the insulin darts out!

Another sugary option was "barbe à papa"...good ol' candy floss to us North Americans. We didn't personally take part, but did snap a photo of a guy who did. They sure don't skimp on the size in Paris.

While strolling along the market, you also get to see Santa....in his sleigh...airborne. He and the reindeer are suspended a few stories up, on a zip line, so the sled appears to "fly" away after telling a story to the children below.

There is also a skating rink - complete with animatronic animal displays, club music and disco lighting as you circle around. Needless to say, being in France (where all kids play football) we looked like Brasseur and Eisler out there.

And our roundup of some unusual things seen in passing while in the City of Lights.

Chestnut roasting in shopping carts over cans filled with coal. The actual roasting of the chestnuts isn't illegal, but the selling of them (sans license) obviously is - so these guys had a look-out man who would give the signal and poof! they'd all skatter.

And if you really need a Nutella fix - the Bon Marché had you covered (probably from head to toe if need be)...

And one hip clothing store had a display of "American Food" - obviously imported directly from the USA. So if you need a toaster pastry fix while in Paris....be prepared to shell out a ten'er.

And this is our final log entry...time to go home, pet our cat and see our families again. This has been an incredible experience (as if not working and making Europe your home for six months could be bad somehow). We've celebrated our birthdays over here and our 20th wedding anniversary.

Favourite memory? Too hard - there were so many incredible ones. Would we do this again?

Hell yeah.

Last food shot (couldn't resist) A/C's salmon in a buerre blanc sauce with creamy spinach (actually not too bad!):

Thanks for reading....
Cassie and Brad

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum

Un petit blog post.

Another little side trip, this time to Arles.

It really seems like this area of France is littered, littered we tell you, with huge Roman buildings. Here we are at another arena. The town of Arles is currently in the process of restoring their arena - although they still use it currently for bull-fights and concerts. One quarter of the outside of the arena is near-newly sparking cream. One side is covered in scaffolding and the other 50 percent is greyish, rounded rock (but still looking quite structurally sound.

This shot of one of the main entrances also has the tower reno down by those crazy medieval guys.

Making your way through the town is quite easy - thanks to several types of visual guides laid out as a walking tour of the town.

1) These classic marble ones laid into the pavement and cobblestones lead the way on the Roman ruin walk through Arles.

2) These newer signs are found on the sides of historically important buildings (causing you to pause and LOOK! at interesting sites you might otherwise zip by).

3) And for the modern touch....full LCD screens with French and English. Most with write-ups about the buildings they are located on or historic features of nearby architecture (and the odd one with advertising).

Et tu Bill Gates?

Square Meals

Back at the market again...but eating AT not buying FROM this time.

We've decided to partake in the Saturday custom in town of 'doing' the market (buying, perusing or both) followed by settling down around 12:30 to enjoy lunch at one of the many cafes either in the main square or somewhere along the circle road around the town.

Last week we opted for one on the south side of the market - Café de l'Oustal. Truly it's nearly dinner theatre as the lunches are considered the main meals of the day and you get to watch the vendors take-down their stalls....an incredible site to see. Hundreds of bags/purses crammed into banana boxes and loaded into mini vans and double long seafood stalls "transformer-ized" down to half their size and trailered out by trucks.

The meal we had was excellent and accompanied by a nice bottle of house red wine for a steal (although that's the common theme for wine in France). Brad had the pavé de boeuf (with sauce poivre -pepper sauce- in the small jar), grilled eggplant/peppers and zucchini and scalloped potatoes (a nicely drier version than at home).

Cassie had the gratin de brandade epinard - creamed cod with olive oil and milk, baked with cheese and spinach. This dish was perfect with the little bit of coolness in the air (and the fact we weren't able to secure seating under one of the outdoor heaters).

And this Saturday's meal. We opted for the north side of the square - enabling us to see the vendor-van ballet of removing the basket stall, housewares dealer and pasta maker. Our restaurant of choice was Terroirs - we nestled up to the side of the building, basked in the sun, with the building protecting us from the wind - perfect. Eating outside. December 1st for Pete's sake!

Cassie had the smoked duck with mushrooms and spinach on toasts.

Brad went for the smoked salmon with sauteed onions on toasts (and a pomme de terre of significant size aussi).

Dessert was a must (well, for Cassie at least). Fromage frais -think super thick yogurt- with salted caramel sauce.

So. Good.

And then we rolled our après-marché full tummies back to the apartment...for a nap.

Gators and Gladiators Oh My!

So out and about in our little Fiat (Brad getting in as much fast, zippy driving as he can) we cruised through the town of Vers. Small cute name, small cute town. But we did get a little turned around trying to get out of town.

And ended up driving beside the quarry for the Pont du Gard (giant aqueduct that carried water from Uzès to Nimes). The road was carved out of the rock...literally, we're not trying to be literarily eloquent.

And a shot of said quarry. They've been bringing out big rock from here since Roman times (now it's a teensy bit more mechanized). On the road leading up here, a few of the houses had 'fences' constructed out of blocks that were 3x3x5...feet! So yeah, they're not picking them up at Home Depot.

Which is a nice segue into posting about Nimes (said destination of water carried by the aqueduct, made of the stones).

One fun story on Nimes - Levi Strauss used fabric from Nimes (serge de Nimes) to make the work-pants he sold. The fabric was blue and the 'serge' part was dropped - put 'em together and whaddya got? Denims!

And now the more educational history (but Coles Notes version) on Nimes - it was a Roman village whose plots of land were given to legionnaires as thanks for their participation in the Nile (as in Egypt) campaigns (as in Julius Caesar's). Which gives the background to Nimes' symbol - a crocodile chained to a palm tree. And the symbol is everywhere.

On posts throughout town...

On pavement markers...

Forming the fountain in one of the squares...

But this one loses a bit of that exotic, tropical feel with the accompanying flocked Xmas tree...

But the big site in Nimes is the arena. And it really is a spectical (as most Roman sites are) - standing in the middle of town with traffic driving by a few feet away. It's incredible to think how long these monuments have been standing for. Although monument is a misnomer for this arena - as it's still frequently used for bull-fights and concerts.

And a nice shot of Brad in an interestingly named part of the arena - the vomitorium. No really! It's not that bad! It's Latin! It means to spew forth...okay, maybe it is that bad. But they were so named because they exited the crowds quickly (as fights would break out if people were held up...much the same as hockey and soccer games of today eh?). So here's Brad being spewed out.

And from spewing to snack food. OK, so my Nimes segue was way better.

At the adjacent cafe when we stopped for coffee. If you want a snack - handy vending machines are right beside the tables!

Or this one of you're in the mood for something else.