Bonne année 2015!

After a nice long weekend in Strasbourg, I hopped on a train west to Paris to meet my parents for a new twist on Christmas!  While I'm enjoying immensely my stay in France, it is wonderful to see familiar faces, especially for the holidays.

It seems that, while the French tend to clear out of Paris for the vacances de Noël, it's prime tourist invasion season.  It was in interesting time for all three of us figuring out how to navigate the crowds.  In addition, we got a taste of the characteristic "damp cold" of Europe, which makes it feel at least twenty degrees colder than the same temperature in the dry cold of Minnesota...not to mention, you often have to spend more time outside here.  The outdoor lines for security alone at many attractions and museums were at least an hour wait.

Our apartment, an airbnb.com find, was luckily a relaxing place to stay.  It was in one of the few remaining non-touristy areas of Paris, near the Bastille, about a half-hour walk from Notre-Dame.  The owner of the apartment was lovely and helpful; she even put up a holiday tree for us to enjoy.  It was incredible how quiet and calm the apartment was (it faced a courtyard), just off a large street.  We also had an magnificent boulangerie right across the street, as well as a busy cordonnier (shoe repair) next door, where I had my suitcase wheel temporarily fixed for free.

Though we experienced quite the windy and cold spell in Paris, but still managed to get out quite a bit.  My parents can fill you in on all of the stories; here are some highlights of things that were new to me during this séjour (stay):

Victor Hugo's apartment near the Place des Vosges, a small and satisfying place to visit with plenty of information about Hugo, his complicated life, and his written works.

Musée Carnavalet, also in the same neighborhood, with varied art corresponding to a variety of historical periods and different regions of France.

Christmas Eve midnight mass at Notre-Dame:  I'm happy to have gone to see it, but with so many people coming and going, it was a little le bazar (chaotic)...

The Petit Palais: just across the street from the Grand Palais, where large, popular traveling exhibits are usually held (that's where I saw the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition in November).  The Petit Palais, in contrast, houses a small, permanent art collection.  It has a variety of styles and periods represented, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

A peek in to the Shakespeare and Company bookstore near Notre-Dame.  Next time, I'll plan on spending a whole day there just to read, and maybe bring some piano music to try out the upright upstairs.

Musée Pompidou:  This made me realize why many people I've met here crave modern art (tickets to traveling art exhibitions have the value of hockey or baseball seats in the U.S.).  After looking at painting after incredible painting from eras past, it's actually very refreshing to see something new and edgy.  I think this is why exhibitions often sell out or have hour-long waits here.  In America, a small blue splotch on a blank canvas is a giant question mark over your head; here, it's somehow an exciting new world of possibility.  The museum also has quite the view of Paris, especially the Eiffel Tower and Sacre-Coeur.  We were lucky to arrive just in time for a colorful, wintry sunset.

Musée d'Orsay:  it was my second time there, but my first time finding the amazing impressionist collection upstairs that everyone comes to see.  I blame CELTAlag for the first time; I vaguely thought that there must be more to the museum, but was too tired to figure out what and where.  The upstairs is so well worth it - it included nearly every painting my college art history class in Cannes studied throughout the semester (I feel as if they shorted us a field trip...).  My absolute favorite was Vue des toits (effet de neige) -View of roofs (snow effect) - by Caillebotte.

My parents and I also enjoyed trying different restaurants, especially those in the St. Michel area just south of the river from Notre-Dame.  We enjoyed comparing boeuf bouguignon, salade de chèvre chaud, soupe à l'oignon, and crème brûlée at several places.

After over a week in Paris, we headed to la Roche-sur-Yon to ring in 2015.  Rolling in by train, I saw frost cover the countryside for the first time.  During les vacances, la Roche was quiet (not that it's ever terribly busy), but we could still check out the main city square and haunts.

In many ways, quality restaurants in small towns like la Roche are easier to find than in a city like Paris, which caters to tourists.  We enjoyed a couple of meals at Francesca, a small Italian place with much character, owner by a French couple with Italian and Spanish heritage.  For New Year's Day, we reserved at the same restaurant where I ate with the collège staff just before Christmas, which specialized in meat dishes.  The duck and squash dish was excellent, but we lamented not taking a picture of the chocolate dessert plate...

Spending the holidays in France was maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience; I've never been in Europe during this time of year before and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.  But, as I've learned, France is serious about its family time over the holidays; I am lucky to have had the best of both worlds this year.