New Year's in France

On December 26, I hopped on a plane from JFK and headed to Paris where Guillaume was waiting to pick me up a the airport. He had already been in France for a week and I joined him for the second week.

Despite the very cold weather, we had a blast. We spent some time with Guillaume's friends in Paris and at their homes. We saw Guillaume's grandparents and spent time with his parents and brother and sister.

The first night, we met Patrice and Aurelien at Le Piano Vache and had a ball. Another night, we met a group of Guillaume's friends and went out for fondue at a restaurant in the Latin Quarter. We ate tons of meat and cheese and I learned a new French phrase that means translates to mean bad wine.

On New Year's Eve, after eating another delicious dinner with Guillaume and his family, we headed to Arnaud and Jennifer's house to see everyone and ring in the new year. We met Louis-Maxime's and Virginie's little newborn sleeping daughter there. She is adorable!

We spent the days wandering around Paris in the cold weather. Some mornings it snowed, which was very pretty. We went shopping at Printemps and saw all the christmas decorations on the big stores. We also visited Bon Marche because I hadn't been there. We decided to visit the Eiffel Tower one night to see the lights. I hadn't been there since my first trip to France with Joanne, ten years ago.

Right before we left France, we had a raclette night with Guillaume's family. This was really fun. there was a huge wheel of cheese that we cut into small pieces, lots of yummy cured meat, small cooked potatoes and those little pickles and onions that I love. It's a bit like fondue. There is a machine with many little drawers in the center of the table. Everyone gets a drawer and puts a piece of cheese in it. The cheese melts and then you drip it over your meat or potato. It gives you time to chat while the cheese is melting. It's very fun.

Guillaume and I couldn't get the same flight home, so I left on a different day. The day I left, there was a huge snowstorm in Paris, which caused huge delays and made everyone angry at the airport. I spent my extra time in the airport buying and Astrix comic book and working on my huge pile of French homework that my teacher gave me before her maternity leave. Time went by fairly quickly and I got all of my homework done. I also managed to get the last sandwich in the airport, which almost caused a brawl.

We had an excellent trip and wait to go back again!

PICTURED: Heather (top, right) in front of Notre Dame; Guillaume's mom's homemade Tarte Tatin second from top, left); Heather and Guillaume (third from top, right) in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background; (above) The fondue pot at the restaurant where we went with Guillaume's friends; and the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night.