Today was too much. I am starting this blog laying in bed at 3:15 am after the most crazy Christmas Eve dinner. We drove out to the town of Grisy-Suisnes where Anne's parents live, 1.5 hour from Paris. Her mom and dad and brother and sister were there with their significant others, and an uncle, cousin, niece and a few other friends. To my surprise, each person is greeted with a handshake and a cheek kiss on each side of the face. I was not sure what to do, but after watching the others, I decided to just go with the flow.
To say that her mom and dad went "all out" would be an understatement. The meal and all the courses were superb. Anne's father, Jean-Claude, is a retired pastry chef and still makes his own chocolates and log cakes. We arrived to menus on each place setting with our names and a description of each course. Thomas and Anne, of course speak English, but only 2 others did. The conversations were mostly in French and quite entertaining. Half way through the night my camera lens broke. It turns out it has been recalled, but that would not help me in this moment of craziness. I wanted to get pictures of all the food, but with a dud camera, that was impossible. Instead, I just took it all in like the old days without a camera, probably for the better. Anne's parents had a Christmas tree, and presents were exchanged in a slightly different manner than I am used to. Everyone hands out gifts to the people that they brought them for, and we all just opened them at the same time. All gifts are opened at this time and nothing is left for Christmas morning (unless you are a child and Santa is coming.) After the gift opening, the dinner began. We ate six courses, with different wines and champagne to accompany each course. We started with little pieces of bread topped with spreads made from olives, pork, fish, mad something else. Next, we had raw oysters from the North Atlantic coast. Foie gras was next, which was a first for us. The main course was wild boar with wild mushrooms we have never seen before, and potatoes with chestnuts. The cheese course was next, with 4 strong flavors. We ended the meal several hours later with Jean-Claude's log cakes in chocolate, coffee, and chestnut flavor. A digestive liquor made by growing a pear in the bottle was then brought to the table. I think that it doubled as fingernail polish remover! We later found out this delectable beverage is a French moonshine made in a barn.
The action packed Christmas Eve began with a morning run to the Eiffel Tower, and then a walk up the stairs to the first level. The weather was much better than the day before, making the photos that much better. We then walked up to the second level. They do not allow tourists to walk to the top, so we just settled for the second level and avoided the lines and fees to go to the top. The view was still amazing on the second level. All the sights in Paris were visible, but we are so new here, Thomas and Anne had to tell us what we were viewing. From there, we came back and cleaned up for the drive to Anne's parents's place.
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