Christmas day was really great. On Christmas I had my friend Greyson woke me up through a succession of phone calls and facebook messages (since I have started to sleep in extremely late). So Greyson and I got up Christmas morning and decided that we wanted to take a walk around the city for a bit for Christmas. We started out at the Luxembourg Gardens and sat down on some chairs and had some strawberries and a we bit of breakfast while enjoying the Gardens and somewhat resting before we went on our long walk around Paris. I really like Luxembourg. It’s really cute and it reminds me somewhat of Golden Gate park though less trees and more fountains and such.
Picture (courtesy of Greyson ) of me eating breakfast in the Luxembourg Gardens...
Greyson and I decided that we wanted to walk around the Eiffel Tower and that district for a while so we took a wee bit of a metro trip over to that area (yes we cheated) and then started walking around. I absolutely love that area of Paris, yes its extremely touristy/extremely posh but it is just absolutely soooo charming. We walked around the area of the Eiffel tower for a while but then decided that we weren’t going to go up despite the fact that it would be super cute to be on the Eiffel Tower on Christmas. We decided that too many other people thought it would be cute to be up there too and that it was just a little to cold and pricey to be worth our while when we had both been up there before. We took some super cool pictures in front of it though jumping off a bench (haha) which was super fun…. very unFrench some of my friends (Jonathan) would tell me but lets be honest I’m not French and I’ve never been one for following what is socially acceptable but alas he wasn’t with us, or he would have probably been mortified..... but it was tons of fun.
By this time Greyson and I were absolutely starving so we went searching in the surrounding neighbourhoods for a restaurant to eat at. Since it was pretty early in the day most of the nice restaurants were closed (though later they would open which is something I will talk about). As a “half-jew” (as some of my friends so fondly refer to me) I got a real kick out of eating Chinese food in Paris for lunch on Christmas day. It’s kind of a cliché: What do Jewish people do on Christmas?..... Go to Chinese food and a movie. So in that respect it was only proper that I fulfil half of my nature and eat Chinese food. The Chinese food wasn’t bad but it just wasn’t China town you know?
After walking around for about an hour more (it was about 1 pm –ish) we decided that we needed a nap before our big Christmas dinner with Jonathan and his brother Darryl so we went back to Greyson’s hotel and took a nap. His hotel is super cute right across from Luxembourg Gardens and the best croissant place. I slept a bit longer then Greyson but I finally woke up around 3:30-ish more refreshed and bright eyed. We then headed over to Darryl’s flat for an absolutely great Christmas dinner.
As we were heading over to Darryl’s flat we started to notice that more and more of the French were coming out later to go to café’s and restaurants after the morning Christmas celebration. This to me is very different from Christmas in the states where usually you open presents in the morning and then go to your extended family’s house or have a large Christmas dinner at your house…. so imagine my surprise that when I see a ton of French people meeting their friends later in the day.
Dinner at Darryl’s flat was absolutely amazing. We started with cheese and wine (though that’s not necessarily how the French do it but, hey, our Christmas meal, our rules). The cheese that we bought the other day was absolutely AMAZING. Oh my gosh we bought this one cheese that I had never had before and it was absolutely amazing, like melt in your mouth (that was Jonathan’s favourite which is why we bought it and what a good choice!). We also got a aged goats milk that was fab with the red wine we bought and a type of blue that I cannot recall the name of and do not want to butcher.
Greyson and Jonathan (and below Daryl and Jonathan) at Christmas at our lovely meal in Daryl's flat!
After our “appetizer of cheese” we moved on to the turkey, stuffing and green beans (all of which were absolutely amazing)… the stuffing made me decided that fresh French bread is the best in stuffing…. EVER. And that if I don’t get into law school, along with learning how to make cheese I will also open up a French bakery.
Dinner was great and the company was amazing too! We just sat around talking and eating for a good two hours and it was absolutely amazing.
A bit later Jonathan, Greyson and I decided to go out and have a drink at one of the fun gay bars around the corner. Fridj as its called was super fun. We ended up meeting some really cool Australians there and had a great time with them talking and eventually doing a little bit of dancing.
When I got home I got on skype but was unable to reach any of my family or friends on it so that was a bit of a downer but I went to bed happy and content.
All in all it was a really good Christmas and I had a great time with Daryl, Greyson, Jonathan and the Australians. Though it wasn’t like my normal Christmas in California I enjoyed myself though I think next year I would really like to be home. And in the end though I didn’t get any present from Santa I well made up for it by buying myself a purse a few days later (which I will talk about laters). I miss you and love you all and hope you had a great Christmas!!!
xoxo
Glatty
No comments:
Post a Comment