It's an Acquired Taste

Absolutely committed to making my 10 000 steps a day by the end of the year I spent most of this week walking to catch up, crossing from one end of Paris to the other, which gave me the chance to take in any decorations I’d yet to see. On Avenue Montaigne I paused with thousands of other tourists to admire the Dior lights (an Instagram vs reality moment if ever I saw one) then battered my way down the Champs-Élysées, remembering fondly why I rarely go there.

On Christmas Eve we lined up at a special entrance of the Eiffel Tower to pass security and whizz up to the Salon Gustave Eiffel for a classical music concert. As guests sipped champagne we admired the foggy view and settled into our seats for some rousing carols followed by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. When the concert concluded we wandered out onto the terrace for a last look at the city from above, before lining up to take the elevator down as my shoes were sadly not suitable for wet stairs.

It was straight home for our dinner of roast ham (glazed with brown sugar, golden syrup and spices) followed by cheese, pavlova and I personally polished off a box of Quality Street as after all my years living in London it doesn’t seem to be Christmas without them. In France Christmas Eve is often the larger celebration but as I was in charge Santa politely respected my wishes and passed by overnight.

On the 25th we woke to over-excited children who’d found stockings on their beds and gifts under the tree and it took some supreme negotiation to get them to hold off while I made a cup of coffee. Once the wrapping paper was in the recycling bin and the kids were set up with lego projects I got started in the kitchen prepping lunch. We had salad with grapefruit, prawns and seared scallops for starter, spiced duck a l’orange with roast potatoes, glazed carrots and mixed green vegetables for main followed by cheese and sticky toffee pudding with extra caramel sauce and ice-cream. As we emerged from the house for a post-prandial stroll I was amazed at how much was open, from shops to cafes and restaurants, reflecting that home in Brisbane you’d be lucky to find a street light on.

On Boxing Day we were up and ready to temp fate at the Grand Palais where (after a 5 year hiatus for renovations) the largest indoor ice-skating rink in the world has re-opened. There were celebrity sightings as we stood in line, enormous anticipation as we strapped on our skates and great relief when we sat down unscathed for hot chocolate at the end. If you go my tips are book the 10am session and show up early (we were in a long-ish line by 9.45), get your skates on asap (the staff are very helpful), if you have small children commandeer a whale/penguin/chair in the littles section before they are all taken and practice, then get off the ice once it gets too crowded. By 11.30 we were sipping hot chocolates and watching the first aid team do their thing repeatedly. International readers from some more winter-y countries may be horrified by the number of injuries we witnessed but ice-skating is usually a once a year activity in Paris so bear in mind you’re on the ice with complete amateurs for the most part and skate accordingly.

I snuck a few tours into the week and was shocked at how busy Paris was, waiting in line at places that are usually empty and skipping some entirely, but luckily I always have a backup plan and for once I used it. One place that unusually didn’t have a huge line was Caractère de Cochon and we took out time crafting the perfect baguette sandwich for each guest: one choosing a plain baguette with butter, one a classic jambon fromage and one a festive foie gras.

The Musée des Arts Forains has been on my list to visit for years but I’ve heard the tours are not the best way to see it so I waited for the Festival du Merveilleux which is held at the end of every year (this year 27 Dec – 5 Jan, tickets still available) and it was amazing. From the moment we walked in there were performers, games, rides, music, food, displays and more. We watched a whirling dervish turn, rode a 120 year old carousel powered by bikes (we reached 78kms an hour, the group before us got to 94!) that took 20 000 hours to restore, introduced the kids to fairy floss and created physical memories in the photo booth.

We ate leftovers in various forms for a few days (ham sandwiches, duck soup, sticky toffee pudding for breakfast etc) and eventually the last chocolate had been snaffled and we moved on to salads and lighter fare to balance it all out, before remembering the Christmas pudding my mum had lovingly bought over from Somerset. So out we went to get ice-cream to make it bearable and ignored the Frenchies snide comments about it being an “acquired taste”.

Bonne fin d’année!

- Emily

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Cheese we’re eating this week:

• Brie de Meaux Fermier Truffé - a rich and creamy brie with ribbon of black truffle-studded cream. A special occasion cheese.

• Saint-Nectaire - a creamy cow's milk cheese made in the micro-region of Mont Dore.

• Beaufort - a firm, raw cow's milk cheese produced in the Savoie region of the French Alps. It’s a very close cousin of our favourite regular, Comté.

All 3 cheeses were from Manu at Marché Maubert.

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Real Life Paris Photo

Saw so many brides taking photos around town this week and impressively not one of them flinched at the cold.