Our second Christmas Eve

It feels like I discover something I haven't noticed before around every corner in Paris. Most of the time, my “discoveries” are probably only of interest to me, but occasionally I have a find I want to share with J.  I arrived a little early to meet a friend for lunch in the Place du Trocadero one day last fall (I know my parents probably think that the fact that I was early for something is the real discovery here) and I used my extra time to explore the area.  When I reached the terrace between the buildings of the Palais de Chaillot, I found an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. 

I brought J up to the Trocadero to check it out months later on a day when we found ourselves in a nearby neighborhood of the 16th arrondissement.  The terrace was choked with people and we could see the area around the Eiffel Tower was even more crowded.  We quickly left and decided to return during the January/February lull in tourism.

We were back in the area to visit the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine the first Sunday in January when we noticed a group of people in costume headed out to the terrace.  We put off entering the museum in favor of following the group to see what was going on.  They were dressed as a live nativity scene and the woman in charge was passing out blue and yellow scarves and sheets of lyrics to some of the bystanders.  J noticed one of the members of the group carrying a Ukrainian flag and we realized that we had stumbled into an Orthodox Christmas Eve celebration.

The people in costume started singing and we stayed for a while to enjoy the music.  We laughed when we eventually headed into the museum because you really never know what you are going to run across wandering around the city.

Christmas in Barcelona

This year we decided to spend Christmas away from Paris.  We wanted to go somewhere that would be easy and relaxing, and (preferably) warmer.  Barcelona seemed like the perfect choice because we have been there several times and know our way around the city pretty well.  We are at least vaguely familiar with Spanish, love Spanish food and wine, and it is typically around 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than Paris in late December. One thing we did not consider when choosing our destination was how Christmas would be celebrated in that city.  After our trip was booked I stumbled across an old article on celebrating the holidays in Barcelona and we realized that we might be in for some uniquely Catalan fun.

One thing we both love about Barcelona (and Paris) is the practice of stringing Christmas lights across the narrow streets.  We were staying in an older part of town and almost every street was decorated.  Each neighborhood had their own distinctive lights: we always knew we were in our little part of the city when the streets were filled with triangles and stars.

 

There was a large Christmas market set up outside of the cathedral in the city's Gothic quarter called the Santa Llùcia market.  It was different than some of the other such markets we’ve seen in that it seemed to sell mostly Christmas decorations rather than souvenirs, churros, and other random non-holiday-related items.  The market had rows of stalls selling greenery, nativity scenes, poinsettias, and a lot of Tiós de Nadal.  The Tió de Nadal is an anthropomorphized log that “generates” small gifts in a rather unusual way upon being beaten with sticks.  There was a communal Tió de Nadal near to the Santa Llùcia market; children could go up and hit it with a stick to receive a piece of candy.

We skipped a few of the holiday activities (like ice skating at the huge temporary rink set up in the Plaça de Catalunya) but there was one I didn’t want to miss.  On Christmas morning I woke J up and dragged him out to the water’s edge to see the Copa de Nadal, an annual swimming race that takes place in Barcelona's harbor.  

There were several heats and participants were split up based on age and membership in Masters swimming groups.  The swimmers were loaded onto a large, flat boat that was navigated to a position 200 meters from the shore.  They jumped and dove off the boat, then swam through the chilly waters of the Mediterranean Sea to the shore.

Boats with emergency personnel followed the swimmers in case anyone had trouble during the race but we only saw a few people pulled out of the water.  Some of the swimmers were wearing Santa hats, carrying the flag of Catalonia, or even wearing full Santa suits and pulling sacks of what looked like presents through the water after them.

The end of the race course was a set of stairs out of the water that was only wide enough for one person at a time.  I felt bad for the swimmers who had to wait to climb the stairs and get out of the cold water, but upon exiting they did each get to triumphantly shake hands with what appeared to be a giant drop of water.

Celebrating the holidays an ocean away from most of our relatives and friends is very different than what J and I are used to, but sipping cava on the beach in sunny, 60-degree weather turned out to be a great way to spend a Christmas afternoon.

Mont d'Or

When I was passing through the market or picking something up at the fromagerie recently, I noticed a new cheese called Mont d’Or and sold in a little round wooden box.  There are other cheese that are sold in similar boxes, like Camembert, but this cheese had an uneven surface and looked a little different.  I was intrigued but didn’t try it out until I saw an article with a recipe for serving the cheese warmed, almost like a fondue.

Mont d’Or is a cheese from the Jura region of France.  During the summer, the cows graze on pastures in the mountains and their milk is used to make Comté (a very popular cheese here in France).  When the temperature drops, the cows are brought back into the stables for shelter and the change in their diet (to cold weather grasses and grain) is reflected in the milk they produce.  The farmers use this winter milk to make a soft, unpasteurized cheese with a thick wavy rind.

The cheese is sold in pine boxes of different sizes, which can be baked to melt the cheese and create a very special winter treat.  I wrapped the box in aluminum foil, poked holes in the rind, then pushed halved garlic cloves into the holes.  I then poured a little white wine over the top, put the lid back on the box, and baked it in the oven until the cheese was fully melted.

We dipped bread into the melted cheese and spooned it over boiled potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and a little charcuterie.  It was mild, nutty and slightly infused with the aroma of pine from the box.  We had our cheese with a white wine from the region and it all combined to be a delicious dinner on a cold night.

London

J had a business trip to London at the beginning of December, and I tagged along to spend a few days speaking English.  The timing of the trip worked out perfectly as we were able to fit in dinner with a friend from Chicago who happened to be in town and J was able to see a concert by one of his favorite bands. Having been to London several times before, my big goal for the trip was to visit the amazing Whole Foods on Kensington High Street and pick up some Mexican food treats that aren't available in Paris.  I ended up doing quite a bit of sightseeing outside of the grocery store, but really enjoyed having some free time in a gorgeous city without the pressure to see everything that can accompany a visit to somewhere new.

I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum to look at some parts of the collection that I hadn't seen yet.  On my way there I stopped by a Christmas market in Hyde Park and then walked by Harrods and Harvey Nichols to see their Christmas window displays.

I was pleased to see that, just like in the Christmas market in Paris, churros were being sold at the food stands of the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.  I was glad that I stopped by the London market as the Paris market was lacking a creepy animatronic Santa next to the churro stand.

I thought at first that the windows at Harrods were fairy tale-themed, but soon noticed Disney branding on the displays.  The windows each featured a designer’s take on a Disney princess dress.

Snow White in Oscar de la Renta

While planning for this trip I realized that I had never been to the Tower of London, so I decided to check it out.  I didn’t realize that the "Tower" was actually a large complex.  I think my pre-conceived notions were all related to the imprisonment of various historical figures and it was interesting to see how many roles (in addition to prison) the buildings have played over time. The Tower is currently the home of the Crown Jewels and a collection of historical armor and weapons, but it has also been the site of a zoo and the Royal Mint, among other things. 

I was creeped out by the huge ravens that live on one of the lawns in the complex and fascinated by the graffiti carved into the walls of one of the rooms in the Beauchamp Tower (one of the buildings) by prisoners held there in 1500s and 1600s.

On the last afternoon I went to the Borough Market.  It is much larger than any of the markets I shop at in Paris and it was a lot of fun to wander around and inspect everything while I picked out something to have for lunch.  I decided to shop for our dinner in the market and surrounding shops, as we were taking the Eurostar train back home that evening.  I picked up a sharp cheddar and a blue cheese from the nearby Neal’s Yard Dairy shop and bought a whole grain sourdough bread and some fruit to have with the cheese from stands in the market.  It was so fun to be able to end a few days in London by bringing a taste of the city back to our Parisian apartment.

Merry Christmas