Christmas window displays!!!

All of the big department stores here have wonderful displays for the holidays, and we went and saw the biggest ones today.

It was a bit hard to get good photos what with all the people and the glare and everything, but I tried.

Chestnuts.

Vintage Dior.

Eric looking at the Chanel swan.

Russian dolls. They were moving and it was cool.

Eric said that is Lenin's head on the table.

Lots of stuffed real animals involved.

Still with the Russian theme here. These dolls were dancing and their house was made of candy and cookies. There is a little walkway higher up in the front for kids to stand on and watch.

She fell down and the peacock's going to get her.

Foxy.

This one was very popular, it's a little rock band and they were all jumping around and singing. Really awesome.

Then their friends were doing a Russian dance in circle on the other side.

Bad picture but it's a glittery fish skeleton.

That sign is advertising the exhibit at the museum where Eric works.

We had lunch in a really French old fashioned type place.

The bar was old and tall.

I think this is a really handsome one of Eric.

Us waiting for the bus with perfume girl behind us.

That ad with the wine glass back there is something. We couldn't see far enough to see what it was for.

The bus that we took home. It's the same one I take to work. There's another ad for Eric's museum on the front. Voila!

Eric's birthday and Marche de Noel

Yesterday was Eric's birthday. He met me after work and we decided to stop at the Champs Elysee on the way home, where they've set up a market for Christmas, and a bunch of cool decorations like these wire ball things. I love these.

See, it's little houses set up all up and down the road, selling food or gifts like hats and handmade things.

They set up a ferris wheel at one end. I think it's probably the same one from that amusement park that was up near the Louvre this summer. It must be the city ferris wheel.

We had some hot wine. It had cinnamon in it and was very good. Eric is wearing his new scarf that his coworkers gave him for his birthday.

There are really a lot of carousels in Paris. Adults never seem to go on them, though. Just kids.

One little house was selling these great creepy animals, mostly cats doing things like reading the newspaper or wearing glasses.

Another ride for kids with a big tree in the center of the track. There were two kids on it and they were both crying. Oh well.

Salmon grilling.

Kikiriki moon bounce. The sound a French rooster makes is "cocorico," so it's a play on that I guess.

Later in the night we went out to dinner for Eric's birthday. All the streets have nice lights up now for the holidays and it's really pretty and magical.

Thanksgiving!!!

There is no Thanksgiving in France, but a few butchers do provide turkeys earlier than Christmas (which is when they eat them here generally). I decided at the last minute to see if our boucherie down the street had any, and they did, and it fit just exactly into our little oven. Everything turned out nicely for Eric's first Thanksgiving and our first big holiday together. I also found that having a fresh, as opposed to previously frozen turkey, made an amazing difference. It was great! We have a lot of leftovers.

french cold remedy

Here I am breathing in a bowl of some highly mentholated stuff from the pharmacy. But the funniest thing is Lisa on the chair next to me with her eyes all crazy.