We spent Christmas in Tours...making it home just in time after our late arrival into the Paris Beauvais airport and getting stuck behind two salt trucks (for two-hours) on our bus ride from the airport into the center of Paris. Needless to say, we made it into Paris on 12/23....and home to Tours by Christmas Eve.
When we arrived in Tours on Christmas Eve morning we headed to my house to drop of our luggage and then immediately to Carrefour to get groceries for the week and for our Christmas Eve dinner. We were worried that we were not going to make it home in time (at least before the grocery stories closed) and would be stuck eating yogurt for dinner... Thank God we made it!
For our Christmas Eve dinner Kaitlyn and I had three “courses”...For our first course we had buttered slices of toasted baguette with goat cheese and raspberry jam, our second course was a spinach salad topped with grapes, pears, goat cheese, caramelized pecans, and a homemade dressing, and for our main course we made salmon with an herb butter and sides of couscous and broccoli. It was all delicious! For dessert we “made” cookies...I purchased pre-made butter cookies and Kaitlyn and I decorated them with frosting (powdered sugar, milk, water, and lemon juice/strawberry jam) and colored sprinkles. I purchased a mini oven....but did that cookie baking would be for another day. Kaitlyn and I needed to figure out a way to make cookies....so this was our solution.
On Christmas Day we woke up around 10:30-11AM and made crepes for breakfast. We then opened presents (thanks to my mom and Kaitlyn there were things to open)! I got some really fun things...nothing extravagant, but little things that are just great to have now (highlights include: alcohol infused whipped cream, a book of hangman puzzles with scratch off letters, a funny book on ethnic stereotypes, mini bonsai trees, Time Magazine’s Review of 2010...). After opening up presents Kaitlyn and I went on a walk around Tours; we explored the botanical gardens, walked along La Loire, and enjoyed the beautiful day. We came home and hung out together....and eventually made a quiche for dinner.
The day after Christmas we went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...it was very good and I look forward to seeing the second half of the movie.
On Tuesday we left for Paris; we spent a few days exploring the sites. It was wonderful...though Kaitlyn was a little sick. We went to: the top of the Arc de triomphe to see the Champs Elysees all lit up for Christmas, the Grand Palais to see the BVLGARI exhibition (very impressive), Pere Lachaise (saw Jim Morrison’s, Moliere’s, and Oscar Wade’s graves), the second floor of the Eiffel Tower (after waiting for more than 2 hours), the Musee Marmottan Monet to see a exhibition on Monet (not the highly publicized one that is going on in Paris...with waits up to an hour and a half), and the Maison Europeene de la Photographie (an incredible photography museum in the Marais neighborhood). And, we of course saw: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Gardens of Luxembourg and the Tuilleries, and TONS OF PEOPLE! Note to self....NEVER go to Paris right before New Year’s...it is CRAZY!
Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time...but are very happy to be home in Tours! We will be bringing in the New Year together...very low key. I will make something yummy for dinner, Kaitlyn will sleep and get better! Who knows if we will even make it to midnight....but again, do we really have to?
Happy 2011 to everyone!
-Alex and Kaitlyn
*Title “inspired” by the actual movie “The Tourist” that we saw while in Paris. we thought the movie would be a great way to tie our trips in France and to Italy together! :)
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