I went to a bilingual school until we moved to New Zealand. We didn't live in a part of Canada where they spoke French, but my parents chose to send Wombat and I to a school where the majority of classes were taught in French. After moving to New Zealand I still took French classes at school, but didn't do particularly well. The approach to French at my Canadian school was that you when you speak in French you should be thinking in French, whereas in New Zealand we were expected to translate everything. What I'm trying to say is I haven't really spoken French since I was 11. I was curious to see how I would get on in Paris and was delighted when it all came flooding back. My sentence structure was no doubt flawed, but when I spoke French to Parisians they understood me, and spoke French back to me, and I understood them. I was pretty excited about this over Christmas, and was amused to find how my brain worked with the languages. I'm still terrible at translating everything (poor John!) and at the hotel and the airport, when asked (in French) if I would like to speak French I couldn't help but respond in French that, no, I would prefer English. Apparently my brain just couldn't make the switch fast enough.
Of course, language wasn't the best thing about my trip, not by far, but it challenging and it was fun.
We arrived in Paris late on Christmas Eve and made our way straight to our hotel through the rain. We'd decided to stay at Hotel Ibis near the Eiffel Tower, in the area that my parents had stayed in on their last visit to Paris, and on their recommendation (although they had recommended a different hotel which turned out to be above our budget). It was ideally located: a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, less than 2 minutes from the nearest Metro station, in an area with plenty of restaurants. Our first night we dined near the hotel, as we arrived late and were less than inclined to walk long distances in the rain.
Christmas day dawned and, after opening our gifts, we headed out for a long day of walking and some proper sight-seeing. We started off through the Parc du Champ de Mars to the Eiffel Tower, but didn't bother to go up as the day was slightly overcast and we had other things we wanted to see. Across the river Seine and to the Arc de Triomphe before heading down past the fancy stores along the Champs-Elysee and towards the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. There were Christmas markets open along the Champs-Elysee and we checked them out and stopped at a stall for roasted chestnuts. Past the Louvre we headed past lovely old grand buildings and across Pont Neuf to the Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame.
Paris is so full of recognizable sights, and I kept pointing out buildings I knew. Notre Dame was as grand as I'd expected and, in the fading light of the afternoon, we sat in the courtyard to admire it. Then a long stroll back to the hotel through the Latin Quarter, Luxembourg Quarter, St Germain and Montparnasse.
Back in the hotel we changed for dinner and enjoyed some champagne before heading back to Montparnasse (on the Metro this time) for our Christmas dinner.
Boxing day and the day after were both a bit more leisurely. We took in Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, the painters and the Moulin Rouge, St Germain, Les Halles and The Marais. The Pompidou Centre and St Eustache. We also went up the Eifel Tower. While I didn't fall instantly in love with Paris the way I did with Berlin, the more time we spent there the more time the city grew on me. Particularly St Germain and the small side-streets around Montmartre. And the Saturday markets we looked at, which made me wish I had a place with a kitchen so that I could buy the lovely cuts of meat, breathtaking fresh vegetables, and exotic fruit. Everything was so French (I know, I shouldn't have been surprised), from the buildings to the markets, the people carrying baugettes and playing petanque in the park (I do love it when stereotypes are realised). And to our tiny hotel room, with the bathroom so small you had to exit it after your shower so that you would have enough room to dry off.
It was certainly a Christmas I will remember forever.