Christmas Vacation

This Christmas Mike and I are visiting France! We left early on Thursday morning by train to Paris. We traveled by two trains; the first one runs from Fribourg to Lausanne, Switzerland, and the second one is from Lausanne to Paris. Mike and I are unexperienced train travelers, we boarded the first train and got comfy in a couple of seats. Shortly after departing a guy came by to check our tickets, he then informed us that we were sitting in 1st class and we have 2nd class tickets. Mike then replied to me, " I thought these seats were a little too comfy." We then had to travel 3 cars further with our luggage to 2nd class. Haha, we had no idea how to distinguish the differences in class of seats.

We arrived about 1pm into Paris at the Gare de Lyon, then took the Metro to find our Hotel. After buying a pack of Metro tickets and getting a Metro map, we easily arrived to the Little Hotel.  It's a budget hotel, so nothing spectactular but greatly fitting our needs and has great access to a Metro station, which is how we are getting around while in this big city.

After a little unpacking we went off to do some exploring. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and snowy. We just walked past the Eiffel Tower, attempted at taking some pictures then decided to keep moving. We did some looking around in various shops, then headed back because of the poor weather. Later that night we ate at an Italian restaurant near our hotel called Maya. It was delicous and pretty reasonable, we loved it!

Eiffel Tower on the day we arrived.

I said, "Mike, Take a picture of me and the Eiffel Tower." And this is what I got...

Yesterday we did the bulk of our sightseeing, (because on Christmas and Sunday we knew most things will be closed.) We saw the Arc de Triomph, then walked down the famous "Champs Elysees". At the end of this street there was a big Christmas market we explored. While here we bought some souveniers and lunch (consisting of ham and cheese crepes.) We then walked along the Seine river viewing the boats and bridges. Stopped to have hot chocolate, or as the French say "Chocolat Chaud", at a small cafe. We next took a Metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral and explored it inside and out. After the cathedral, we visited the "Paris Galleries Lafayette" and the area surrounding it.

The Arc de Triomph



We were able to attend a Christmas Eve service at the American Church of Paris. ..Before our trip I did some research to find a service in English for us to attend, the results were this place. It was a very nice service in a beautiful church! So happy we were able to attend. When waiting for the service to start we found out that last year it filled up so fast that they had to turn away people! Luckily, we had arrived pretty early and got a spot near the back of the church.

Today we are going ice skating, visiting the Eiffel Tower up close, and then having a Christmas dinner at a fancy restaurant. Merry Christmas everyone!



At the Notre Dame Cathedral.