Champs Elysées

On my last day in Paris I headed over toward the Arc de Triomphe—hadn’t been there since my first visit 30 years ago, when I’d been overwhelmed by what I termed the “belligerent patriotism” expressed all over that monument.

I got off the Métro at the Champs Elysées/Clemenceau station and ascended to…a marché de Noël.

That put paid to the idea of me walking all the way down to the Arc. I am a sucker for Christmas Markets. I’ve taken two separate trips to Germany just to see the Christkindlmärkte: Nürnberg, Köln, Augsburg, Dresden, München. It’s wonderful, being in the crisp cold air, sipping a nice hot Glühwein, occasionally indulging in a bratwurst and just walking up and down the rows of merchant huts.

These days much of the merchandise comes from China, and the EU has probably cracked down on hygiene standards for the food products sold so flavor has disappeared. But those markets are still wondrous.

They were setting up a marché in Bordeaux, but it didn’t open until the day I had to leave, so I missed out on it. And I hadn’t even considered Paris, much less le plus grand boulevard de la ville.

Well, I had to wander up one side, down the other and then back up again. I must have looked like Gomer Pyle, oohing and ahing over all the goods on offer. There’s a lot of the same stuff scattered about, but I did find things suitable for Christmas and Chanukah gifts. And of course I had a cup of Glühwein.

(In Germany they serve it in an actual cup; they charge you a deposit and then you get it back when you return it to one of the many Glühwein stands in a market. Here it was in a paper cup.)

In addition to the vendors, there were carrousels and other little rides for children. Didn’t have the cozy feel or a market crowded into one of the town squares, but it was still a find.

Never made it to the Arc de Triomphe; but it’ll be waiting for me the next time I go there.