Bonne année!

Hello, Happy New Year!

I'm back from a really good long adventure. It was hobbitesque even, and I'm still sorting through the 1500 pictures that I took and the stories that they tell, and just kind of recovering mentally from the whole thing.

So, here. Before it gets to be April or May and while we are still currently in galette des Rois season (PS- they are nothing like that bastardized version from New Orleans that I love, but more on that later), here are some pictures of Paris right before Christmas.

I caught these people, with their pretty man-mannequin, trying to hail a cab up near Pigalle. The menfolk were stressed, but the woman was just laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Christmas shopping is the same everywhere. Awkward, tiring, and stressful enough to convince me the giving handmade gifts is the way to go.

They do embrace Christmas with gusto here. There is no Halloween or Thanksgiving to kick off the festive season, or to distract and steal thunder from Christmas. It just changes overnight, and suddenly it becomes Christmas. The department stores are slathered in LED glows and bows and the grocery stores have a huge section of Champagne and chocolates that I've never seen before. I developed an alarming habit out of Baru chocolaté covered marshmallows with a good glob of salt caramel sandwiched in there for good measure. I'm almost glad they stopped stocking them at the local Monoprix, but that doesn't keep me from hopefully searching for them each and every time I'm in there. If you ever see these babies in the store, my advice is to buy them all.

The lights were amazing. I had it in my head that there would be more pure, white lights and traditional decorations. Oh, how wrong I was. It was all neon. The Champs-Élysées looked like it was auditioning for a role as the "new Las Vegas".

There was a huge Christmas market that lined both sides of the Avenue starting at Concorde (oh, there is no "happy holidays here. Just the un-PC Christmas to shake things up.). It was a touristy overkill, but I was happy being a tourist since I felt like I had been avoiding all things holiday-like for almost all of December as I am a well-documented scrooge in the sense that I think we should be happy and giving to people all year around and it's just too bad that it's socially reserved for this one time of year.

These aren't my best shots as, quite naturally, it was raining, and balancing big camera with umbrella in a crowd wasn't the easiest activity for someone with very limited athletic ability.

The holidays are apparently just too much for these gingerbread men. So young. So much delicious potential.

Oh, and the parties. Americans love to be entertained and any excuse for a gathering is a good one, and we know a whole lot of expats that get an odd homesickness this time of year. Only one thing will help ease the dark-day blues: Cheese, and lots of it, with a healthy dose of vino thrown in. While the goat cheese that announces spring is a little scarce right now, there are plenty of good aged cheese that are perfectly ripe right now.

Another ex-pat friend of ours helped us to discover the joys of Alsatian Charcroute:

A huge pile of homemade sauerkraut topped with unthinkable amounts of roast pork, pork belly, and a vast variety of sausages slathered with a healthy bit of spicy mustard.

It was also a great way to load up on pork products before an expected drought. Where I ventured next there would be a scarcity of bacon:

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and that this coming year is amazing.

Retrospect

Oh, the year I've had. The year we've all had.

It's been a really interesting one. It's the year of drastic changes for me as I shook my life up. It's yet to be determined if this is recommended, but I did it and here I am.

It started with a swim at Coney Island (and a Nathan's hot dog. With fries.)

I took off and moved to a new country. It's been hard, but I'm so thankful for the experience and I am happy because of it. Escaping from New York is hard, but it can happen.

I said goodbye to old routines and started new ones. I said goodbye to a whole lot of people, and became an expert in cocktail conversations on my way to meet new people. I've sold or put in storage all my belongings and I've learned to live out of a suitcase.

I am so lucky to be able to travel and see and do all the things. Iceland, Norway, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, plus I got to see a great deal more of Paris and France. I've eaten quite well throughout. Don't think for a second that I am ignorant of how fortunate I am.

I'm out of town for the next couple weeks. I figure what better way to start the New Year by starting to explore an entire new continent.

As always, may you all have your health and find happiness in the New Year!

A Proven Hangover Cure

Ahhh, New Year. Let us wash away the icky old one with a refreshing dip in the drink, shall we?



We once again made the trek out to Coney Island for the Polar Bear swim. Technically, if you are really, truly a real Polar Bear, you do this all the time. It just becomes a thing to do on the weekend. Like the binge drinkers going on the tear the night before, this is amateur hour. You can tell the ones who are out there professionally by their lack of screams and non-nonchalant attitude about the whole thing. Yawn.



Either way, everyone is very brave, very drunk still, or very susceptible to suggestion. Or maybe they just like a one-two punch of frostbite and hypothermia. A little something to start their year off with a jolt.





The beach is just about as crowded as it gets in July, if only for a little while. There is a noticeable lack of tans. Lots of supporters to cheer the swimmers on their way.



































It's a very intense 4 or 5 minutes, and then it's over. The screams eventually taper down, shivering bodies are warmed with towels and sweaters and tiny cups of coffee, and the winter beach is once again returned to the gulls.





I maintain that if I carry enough expensive-looking photo equipment, I will be spared the pain and suffering of the plunge and keep dry and cozy on the sand. Water is not a viable option for me at this time of year at this latitude. The cold water is not so much my problem, but jumping out into cold air is.



Hope everyone had a fantastic New Year, with lots of hope for good stuff to come. This is bound to be a year of change and transition for me, and I can only hope that more exciting adventures are in store. I look back at all the fun things I did in the past year, and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude at all the opportunities I have had and friends I got to share it with (and get buzzed on homemade beer...you guys are slagging off and need to help me with this storage problem.)

Cheers!