I’ve had some folks from back home ask me, “How are the holidays celebrated in Paris?” While I won’t actually be spending the week between Christmas and New Year’s in France, I’d love to share my observations on the lead-up to the holidays.
Oh Tannenbaum (Christmas Markets)
In many parts of Europe, and Paris is no exception, you’ll see Christmas Markets (Marché de Noël) pop-up in squares and grand boulevards (usually mid-November through the first week of January). Wooden chalets line the streets, each offering enough space for vendors to display and sell all sorts of gift items The largest one I’ve visited in Paris was along the Champs-Élysées, which had more than 200 booths. On offer are scarves, hats and gloves, decorative housewares like pillows, blankets and knick-knacks, children’s toys, chocolates and a variety of candies, artisanal meats & cheeses, handmade soaps and jewelry, and leather goods, just to name a few. If you get hungry or thirsty while you shop, never fear! There are the treats ubiquitous to street fairs worldwide, like fried chi chis (churros), candied apples, and barb à papa (cotton candy), but you can also choose regional dishes such as hearty cassoulet, a white bean, goose, duck, & sausage dish from the southwestern Occitan region, fresh, raw oysters, shucked to order, champagne by the glass, German sausage and sauerkraut, Italian paella, and even salmon being cooked over an open fire right before your eyes. Along the street, there are Christmas decorations – colorful nutcrackers, artificial snowmen and santas, and trees strung with colorful lights add to the festive atmosphere. One thing that really stood-out to me: Christmas music is played throughout the market, and it was ALL in English!
Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly (Malls)
During December, I had the opportunity to visit a couple of malls in Paris. I am here to report that they are much the same as they are at home: decorated for the holiday, playing Christmas music (also in English), and crowded with shoppers.
Oh, Holy Night, The Stars are Brightly Shining (Churches)
In my experience of churches at home in the states, most take the opportunity to decorate for Christmas. It is no different here in Paris. Often, you will see floral decorations throughout the church as well as at the alter. There are also Nativity scenes of all sizes. When I visited the world-famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in central Paris, they were busy installing their Nativity scene, which included hundreds of figurines, buildings, animals and the crèche.
City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, in the air there’s a feeling of Christmas (Christmas Windows)
I have not had the pleasure of seeing New York City’s Christmas windows, but have heard about them since I was a little girl. My friend, Melissa, tells me the shop windows in Paris are a little like those in NYC. There are three large department stores in Paris that really make an effort to spruce-up (pardon the holiday pun) their display windows for the holidays. In Paris’ 9th Arrondissement, you’ll find Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. These two department stores cover about two city blocks, and most of their windows are decorated. This year, Printemps went with brightly-colored scenes of charming puppets: children playing in the perfume, shoe and crystal departments, dwarfed by giant candies, as well as puppets of animals playing musical instruments.
At Galeries Lafayette, the windows were filled with animated snowy scenes of white paper, crafted to look like polar bears, penguins, and winter scenes. The center of the store is drop-dead gorgeous all year long, as it is a rotunda crowned with a stained-glass dome. The Christmas decorations make it even more so — several stories tall, the rotunda is filled with an elaborate Christmas tree.
The department store BHV / Marais, in Paris’ 4th Arrondissement also decorated their windows with snow and moving puppets of Santa and mischievous elves. Don’t tell anyone, but I thought the elves were a little creepy!
In these first photos, I was visiting on a weekday afternoon. As you can see, viewing these windows is a whole different story during the last weekend before Christmas. I would not recommend waiting!
Winter Wonderland (Disneyland Paris)
It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Disneyland Paris and the Walt Disney Studio parks this past weekend. We’d been on the fence about going to them at all – after all, we can go to Disneyland as often as we’d like, being Southern Californians. With a free Sunday, and no real plans, the idea of seeing that classic Disney Christmas was really appealing. Visiting the park is super easy, as it lies right on the regional train line – it’s only a 35-minute train ride directly to the entrance of the park. No traffic, no parking, no long drive home at the end of a full day!
Christmas at Disneyland Paris is very much like it is in the LA parks. They do such a beautiful job of decorating every inch of the parks with lights, “snow”, and garlands. The characters were all wearing their Christmas costumes, and Main Street pumps-out fake snow (bubbles) at regular intervals. Disney Magic is turned-up to 11! I thought that the Paris park’s Sleeping Beauty Castle was glorious, its rooftops bedecked with tiny white lights, sparkling like champagne bubbles (or maybe it’s actually Fairy Dust).
Click the link below to see it sparkle!
We had park-hopper tickets, and spent a couple of hours at the Walt Disney Studio park. This is where they’ve got the Toy Story area (OMG, so cute to have all of the giant classic toys!)
Some interesting things at these parks: The Tower of Terror is still here (not closed-down, like the one in CA). Indiana Jones is an outdoor rollercoaster instead of an adventure theme ride (still fun, with fast turns, good drops and a loop). There is no Jungle Ride, Tiki Room (no Dole Whip!), Matterhorn, Nemo Submarine or Splash Mountain. They do have a really cool, Jules Verne-style Captain Nemo’s Nautilus that you can explore, They’ve got a Magic Carpet ride (similar to Dumbo), a cool 3-D Ratatouille ride, and the Disney standards, Haunted Mansion (Phantom Manor) and Pirates of the Caribbean (sans Johnny Depp) are both there. While it is still an awesome roller-coaster, Space Mountain is quite different, both inside and out. Before you go, check-out the park info online to avoid disappointment if you have a favorite ride in CA:
http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk
Despite near-freezing temperatures, we had a great time! If you visit Disneyland Paris, here are my suggestions:
- Download the Disneyland Paris app on your phone before you go to the park. This has an interactive map which includes approximate wait times.
- If you’d like to eat dinner at a restaurant where you can sit-down, make reservations early in the day at one of the park’s restaurants. You can make reservations by calling directly from the app, but I also saw a kiosk on Main Street where you could use an ATM-like machine to reserve for later in the day.
- There are not as many dining options or snack carts here as there are in CA. Bring some snacks. There is a designated picnic spot outside of the entrance, but you can eat snacks as you walk around with no problem.
- Don’t count on FastPasses. The day we were there, most FastPass kiosks were closed.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas (our home in Vincennes, France)
Our petite ville, Vincennes, is just on the southeastern edge of Paris. We feel so fortunate to have found an apartment (two, actually) in Vincennes, because it is right on the regional train line (RER) that Mark takes to work, and it is at the end of the Métro line 1 which crosses the city of Paris. We can be anywhere in the city within 20-30 minutes. The icing on top of the cake is that we also have within walking distance the vast Bois de Vincennes (woods and park created by Emperor Napoleon III in 1855) and the regal Château de Vincennes (former residence of the Kings of France). Vincennes has a lively community, while maintaining a small-town feel. We were enchanted to see this little band of merry-makers adding to the holiday festivities with music and good cheer one evening this week as we did our grocery shopping.
Click the link below for a short video of the fun:
The square at the train station in Vincennes even has a small Christmas market. Every night of the week, there are families gathered to chat with friends, indulge in treats, ride the ride and buy gifts.
Silent Night (Vincennes)
