CHRISTMAS MARKETS!

Well, it's hard to believe that Christmas is here once again! It has seemed a bit strange for us not to be caught up in the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas with our family and friends this year. But that doesn't mean we've lost our Christmas spirit! There is so much to see and do during the holidays here in Paris that we decided to go out to the Christmas Market at La Defense with Morgan and Joe yesterday!

Facts about La Defense:

• it is the major business district of Paris (think downtown Calgary-esque).
• it is the western most point of the Historical Axis which stretches from the Louvre through the Arc de Triomphe up to the Arche at La Defense.
• The Arche also forms a secondary axis with Paris' two tallest buildings, the Eiffel Tower and Tour Montparnasse.
  
• with 72 buildings, 14 highrises, and 150,000 workers it is Europe's largest business district
• La Grande Arche itself is is almost a perfect cube and was designed by a Danish architect who wanted it to be a 20th Century version of the Arc de Triomphe.

La Grande Arche (Find Jacie, Morgan, and Joe)

The markets that we visited were a mish-mash of venders selling everything from strange looking sausages to foie gras to tribal masks to funny clothes for pirate babies! It was definitely an interesting wander through all the stalls and the smell from the vendors who were cooking food was indescribable!

Christmas Markets and the view toward the Arc de Triomphe

We found Papa Noel in the Market!

We had a splendid lunch in the market made up of vin chaud and a dish called tartiflette. I am told that tartiflette is originally from the Savoie region of France (SE of Paris). Tartiflette is basically scalloped potatoes on steriods! It consists of potatoes, cheese, and bacon or ham mixed together in the giant pan below using the hugest wooden spoon I've ever seen! C'est bon!


After chowing down on our tartiflette we headed over to the giant mall beside the Arche. We made the mistake of entering Toys R' Us three days before Christmas but we found some cool stuff amongst the hoards of people! Although we didn't snap a picture of it, they had a giant triceratops that you could ride and it walked along! I said I wanted it for Christmas soooooooooo bad, but Natalie sad no:(.... maybe nextyear.

We did find this sweet Lego replica of La Tour Eiffel! I want to go to there!

Giant Gingi is a wee bit frightening!
Baxter came along for the day and wanted to get his picture taken in front of the giant thumb!

Later in the evening we had our first sushi experience here in Paris! It was a place called K10 and they use a conveyor belt to deliver sushi around the restauraunt. So you simply sit and check out what's passing on the belt and if you see something you like, you snag it off. All of the dishes are color coded by price so you just save them and they add your bill based on your plate colors. Very cool and very delicious!

Last but not least here's a shot of the Arche at Night