A Parisian Christmas

I ended the last post with William's post-shave mugshots. The poor child's appearance only got worse in the following 24 hours, since the next morning he fell and split the skin just beside his left eye. It bled a lot and was a real mess in the hour or so before we were meant to be leaving England, but thankfully he narrowly avoided taking the sharp corner of a piece of furniture in the eye directly. He looks cute enough below, but perpetual runny nose + shorn head + a big band-aid on the face = a kid who spent a few days looking like he would have benefitted from a new set of parents for Christmas.  :)

The boys have been fascinated for several months by the Euro tunnel that connects England and France under the English Channel; we've watched a documentary on it more than once. So our evening return to France was via the "chunnel," which we all found exciting! It's cheaper than the ferry and very efficient to boot, so win-win-win.

The cars queue up and, at the appointed time, everyone starts driving directly onto the train.

Five or six vehicles fit per standard train carriage. You simply drive in, park the car, roll down your windows, and hang out either inside the car or beside it. 

We opted to stand next to the car for most of the 30 minute trip...not that there was anything to see out the windows underground in a very narrow black tunnel! It was a little weird to think we were hurtling under the ocean at around 100 mph, although as veteran Bostonians, I suppose underwater tunnels aren't as disconcerting as they might be.

We were equal parts baffled and amused that our passports were not checked at any point. England is not part of the Schengen area so England-France ought to involve a proper border crossing. But on the English side, the station was dark and unmanned. We figured reentry would be checked as we left the train in Calais instead. But nope. There wasn't even a station on the French side! We sort of humorously waved our passports around in the car as we drove away ("Ummm...we've got these passports here....anybody? We've paid lots of money to your government for these really important visas...and...ummm...? Want to see? Anybody there??") 

After breezing back into France, we spent the night at a bed and breakfast not far from Calais (yes, we were all lice free—daily checks!—and not leaving a trail of critters in our wake). We drove to Paris the following day for a whirlwind 24 hour stopover en route home. 

It was cold, but we had a great time just walking around the City of Light for the afternoon and evening!

Outside Notre Dame Cathedral

The boys were enthralled with this guy doing soccer ball tricks. Here they're leaving some change in his tip hat.

The Christmas Market was still going strong along the Champs Elysées, with seemingly endless lovely booths full of treats, gifts, foods. It was bustling with people and so fun to see!

Our proper purchase of the day/evening was a set of 4 tickets to ride the Roue de Paris, the beautiful illuminated ferris wheel set up at Christmastime. Yes, it was mighty cold...but oh-so-worth it! 

For the overnight, we had booked ahead a tiny flat through Airbnb. In trying to stretch funds and make these trips possible, we generally opt for a couple of key experiences and sacrifice cushy accommodations or any meals out, and we had (knowingly) gone bottom dollar on housing. Obviously we're okay with that and keep our expectations low and our outlooks flexible and good-natured. With that in mind, for us to say this flat was a bit tight is to say that any other family of four probably would have turned around and headed to the nearest hotel, cost notwithstanding.  :)  The "kitchen" was a bit of counter with a two-burner hot plate, a small sink with a horrific sponge that looked a year old, a few items of mismatched dish ware, and a tiny (broken) decorative end table with one chair. The second bed was a few cushions we could pull off the little foam couch (this couch was alongside the "kitchen"). And access to the toilet in the bathroom was via an opening barely 15 inches across (it was a squeeze for me and Jesse...and we're not exactly hulking figures!). There were two huge lovely windows but alas, no curtains or blinds. But regardless of the condition, we had a bathroom and water and heat and even wifi, so Jesse and I went to sleep (mattress on floor) laughing about it all. Indeed, we were immensely thankful to be out of the cold, to be together as a family, all safely tucked away for the night after a lovely family day.

The best thing the flat had going for it was an awesome spiral staircase in the middle of the apartment building. 

 *  *  *

In the morning we packed up quickly and headed downtown for our Christmas surprise for the boys. We had tickets to the Cirque D'Hiver: Paris' winter circus! To be honest, part of the reason for the surprise was frugality again. We waited until the day before to book half-off tickets, so we weren't sure we were going until the last minute.

Not exactly the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay, but a super fit for our family at this stage.

The circus is in a small, historic theater building. They have a live orchestra accompanying all the acts, and the choreographed lights show was pretty amazing. 

Most of the acts were shows of skill, acrobatics, strength, agility, and so forth, with quite an emphasis on high-up / flying sorts of exploits. It was terrific—although Jesse and I left with that "wow, I'm a lazy, utterly out-of-shape loser" kind of feeling you get after seeing what human bodies can be conditioned to accomplish...

On the animal front, there were elephants, horses, and a very funny dog routine. There was a guy who was a whizz at flying a remote controlled airplane—an unusual and cool act. And we very much enjoyed the one clown, who did a funny routine segueing between each of the other acts; he was a visiting American clown, as it turns out. (I harbor a suspicion that the Parisians may view all of us as visiting American clowns...just a hunch...)  

The circus concluded our lengthy Christmas celebrations. We got in the car and made the nearly 5 hour trip home to Thouars. With memories of spending 12-hour days grading papers last Christmas holiday in New Hampshire, and predictable visions of the same for this time next year, I know that Christmases to come will struggle to top the amount of family time, church time, enjoyment, and sights we've relished these last few weeks. Lice, seasickness, injuries, and tiny flats notwithstanding, we are incredibly fortunate and so, so thankful.