'Tis the Season for Marche de Noels

The first weekend of December I had my first experience at a European Christmas market, and I am already an addict!  After two weeks of moving pains, we took a little break and enjoyed a quick weekend getaway to the city of  Bordeaux.  Actually, we planned the trip weeks ago, and it just so happened to fall right when the majority of our moving tasks were wrapping up.  We only had a couple of days, so despite the fact that Bordeaux is famous throughout the world as a wine destination, we skipped wine country entirely in favor of a chance to see some of the city sights and of course, for the Christmas Market, or as they are known throughout France, "Marche de Noel".

Christmas Trees at the Marche de Noel

We arrived in Bordeaux on Friday night with just enough time to settle in to the hotel, walk the dogs (they were invited on this trip), and catch the tram to dinner.  We had reserved a table at La Tupina, a warming, cozy, "institution" of a restaurant, specializing in French comfort food - a perfect choice for a chilly (below freezing) evening.  We happened to be seated next to another American couple, and after 15 minutes of eavesdropping and enviously eyeing each others foods, we gave in and all but pushed the two tables together for the remainder of the meal.  One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people and hearing their stories about how they got to be where they are.  So while some people might think our dinner date was interrupted, I had a fantastic time listening to this couples family stories, impressions of France, and general philosophies on life.  After dinner I drug Kerry through the freezing cold to a jazz bar, Le Comptoir du Jazz, where we listed to some live music, did a little dancing, and had a middle aged man tell me I looked like famous "princess locked in a castle" in France.  I'm not positive and I haven't seen the movie, but I think he might have been talking about the movie Brave, which really made me want to go brush my hair.

Le Comptoir du Jazz

Saturday was our day for sight-seeing and Christmas fun at the market.  The market wouldn't get moving until around 10:00, so we spent the morning wandering around the heart of the city, called the Triangle D'Or, taking in the Esplanade des Quinconces, Grand Theatre, and peaking at Rue St. Catherine, the longest pedestrianized street in Europe (shopping!).  Our eventual destination was Cafe Dijeaux for breakfast, coffee, and what is supposed to be the best hot chocolate in Bordeaux.  While the hot cocoa was certainly delicious, it was the waffles that I couldn't get enough of.  They were easily the best waffles I have ever had!  Us Americans dump sugary syrup all over our waffles, which is yummy, but in France, waffles come with whipped cream and some sort of sauce, we chose raspberry jam.  After having waffles like this, I am a convert, I will never go back to syrup again!

By the time breakfast wrapped up, the market was in full swing, so we bundled up and headed to the Allees de Tourny.  Over 100 vendors set up with everything from handmade jewelry and toys, to hot food and drinks, live Christmas trees, carnival games for children, and of course, Santa!  It took us over two hours just to walk around and see everything.  The entire market is outside, and temperatures during the day were in the low 40's, so even with our warmest coats and scarves, it didn't take long at all before we were searching for a hot beverage to keep our fingers from freezing.  We thought we would find ourselves a hot tea or more hot chocolate, but it turns out the French have another piping hot beverage they are quite fond of: "vin chaud" - hot wine!  We had to try some!

Hot spiced wine

They heat up wine in big vats and steam it with spices and fruits, the smell alone is intoxicatingly delicious.  I do think most of the alcohol burns out during cooking, which is a good thing, because we kept going back for more and more.  After a couple hours of browsing the merchandise, we stopped for a quick snack at a booth selling one of Bordeaux's specialties: oysters.  I have never actually enjoyed oysters before, but Bordeaux is very proud of their oysters and consider them a classical part of the Bordeaux experience, so ya know, when in Rome... But it turns out, we have been doing it wrong in Texas - not crackers, French bread and butter!  They were really yummy!  I enjoyed them so much I went back for more at dinner.  However, oysters are served very cold.  Which meant that by the time we finished our plate, we were ready to head inside and warm up for a bit.

Oysters and Champagne

Our next stop was an innovative wine tasting room called Max Bordeaux.  The genius of the place is that all of the wine is served from a vending machine in one, two, or three ounce pours.  You purchase a card at the desk, then stick it into the machine, press a button, and out comes wine!  Each tasting is priced relative to the cost of the bottle.  This means that while you can try plenty of affordable wines for just a couple euros each, you also have the opportunity to sample very expensive wines, up to 650 euros bottles, for only 25 euros.  It's still expensive for such a small amount of wine, but where else do you have the chance to try just one ounce of a really nice bottle of wine?  So if you have ever wanted to taste the difference between a 10 euro bottle of wine and a 650 euro bottle of wine, Max Bordeaux is the place to go!  Our personal opinions though?  We couldn't tell a difference.  Blame it on our "unrefined palettes" I guess.

Max Bordeaux

The remainder of the day was spent much like the morning.  We returned to the Christmas market to make our purchases and fill up on vin chaud.  We also walked the dogs to the river to see the Pont de Pierre and the Place de la Bourse with it's Miroir d'Eau (water mirror), which I was very bummed to find was turned off for the day.  Kerry then pointed out that, yes of course it is off, you cannot have fountains running in below freezing weather.  Oh well, we'll catch it next time!  We had been snacking most of the day at the market, so we more or less skipped dinner, but did we stop in for appetizers at Le Bar du Boucher, a popular meat restaurant where you can go up to the meat counter, select the exact piece you want and tell them how you want it cooked.  But in France, you will find much more than cows on the menu, so it's best to study up a bit on your french animal vocabulary if you ever make it to this part of the world.  Before the night was over though, there was one last sight I wanted to see: La Porte Cailhau.  You will find arches built into great stone walls in cities all throughout France.  They are almost always remains of defense walls built up hundreds of years ago surrounding the entire city, with the arches being the only entrances to the city, thus the arches are often termed "gateways" or the french word for door, "porte."  This particular one is no different really, except it is perhaps a little fancier than most others, and I thought it looked really pretty lit up at night.  So we made a pit stop on our way back to the hotel.

La Porte Cailhou

It seems that almost every city in France, if not in Europe, sets up outdoor Christmas markets very similar to the one we visited in Bordeaux, which is a good thing, because I think I will never tire of them!  This one is not particularly famous, but it is one of the larger ones in France.  I found it a perfect way to kick off the Christmas season, and as much as I hate cold weather, it really does make it feel more like Christmas.  Montpellier has a Marche de Noel also, and I think we will be frequent visitors over the next week.  We need to get our fill of vin chaud while we still can!  

           
The full set of Bordeaux pictures can be found here:
Bordeaux - December 2012