Christmas Eve

24 Dec:

That morning, I didn't eat cereal for breakfast because I was more interested in croissants and baguettes.  Delicious things, them are.  We checked out afterward (Ryan paid, yay!) and we were able to put our luggage in the luggage room for the rest of the day until we had to leave. 

Stopped at a pharmacy before everything so I could buy some lip balm.  While there, we mimed if the pharmacist had an ankle brace for Ryan's foot.  She didn't speak much English but I spoke a little French and we managed to get by just like that.  She was really friendly too.  Measured Ryan's ankle to check his size and gave us two options for him to try on.  We chose one I paid for it.  The brace helped Ryan's ankle, but it still hurt the majority of the day.

First stop was the Eiffel Tower to get some pictures it during the day and to go on top of it.  Except it was closed this time too because it was snowing.  This time, there was a woman at an information desk that told us it was closed because of the weather.  A sign also pointed out that the Eiffel Tower closes at 11pm, which means that it was closed for the same reasons the previous night when we came by it then.  I was fairly upset by this piece of news because I was looking forward to going on top of the Eiffel Tower and seeing Paris from way up high.  Also, I wanted to go on top of the Eiffel Tower.  My eyes watered and I let them water because I know I'm terrible at keeping in my crying.  So we went back to our previous spot the previous night and took some pictures of it in the daytime.  I'm pretty sure we have more pictures of it than we can manage.

Wandered into a small Christmas Market under the Eiffel Tower at this time.  It was a cute market especially for tourists like us.  We bought crepes and wandered about for a bit.  There was some ice skating and a small area for children to play in.  We also debated on getting a hot dog or a hamburger or something, but it was too much money to spend on just a small little thing to eat.  7EUR for a hot dog was much too much.  So we continued walking and I looked for stands that sold mulled wine for under 3EUR.  Saw a few, but Ryan didn't want any from France.

Afterwards we went to the l'arc triomphe at the end of the Champs Elysses.  This was important for Ryan because the Tour de France rides around the Champs Elysses in the grand finale or something.  The arc is in the middle of a 12-lane roundabout that has aboslutely no structure to it whatsoever.  According to our tour guide, there is an accident every 30 minutes.  It's very scary.  How to get to the center circle that features the arc?  There is an underground pass to walk trhough.  You can guy tickets to go on top of the arc, but we weren't interested in going up.  It was cold and snowy and we had no desire to go up.  We got the free lookaround on the ground instead. 

The arc was pretty and featured statues and a Memorial for the Immortal Soldier, which commemorates the nameless soldiers who died during WWII.  We took pictures, we shivered in the wind, and then we decided to walk down the Champes Elysses because it was lined with shops and tourists and maybe we'll find some lunch on the way.

Lunch was a small cafe on the Champs that was really nice.  It was quaint and busy for Christmas Eve, I thought.  We split a sandwich and drank some water from the water bottle and just sat and relaxed.  When Ryan went to the bathroom, I noticed the Christmas songs on the radio and I started to think of home and the Christmas we're missing back there.  Started to tear up again and Ryan came back and asked what's wrong but I couldn't really speak so I wiped them away and said I was fine.  We walked down the Champs Elysses after and moving helped me a lot.

We saw really fancy cars of really expensive companies.  Even walked into a few stores.  Expensive car shopping is nothing like car shopping in the US.  You don't really get to test drive anything, you just walk around the store and say "I'd like to buy this car, please."  Or maybe that's completely incorrect and expensive car shopping is everything like the car shopping I know.  We saw awesome cars anyway.  There was also a two-level Disney store that we had to walk in.  It was covered with Toy Story memoriabilia, some Tinker Bell fairies, a little Princess and the Frog, a few Cars, but a lot of Toy Story 3.  A lot.  But we went in because I wanted to walk in.  We also walked into Louis Vuitton because I was like "Oh look!"  I also suggested Ryan buy something for mom from there.  So we walked in and everything was really really expensive.  You also didn't touch anything to look at it because everything was on display.  Ryan attempted to look for something cheap enough to buy, but it just didn't exist.  At least not in that store. 

At the end of the avenue, there was a Christmas Market.  I wanted to stop for some mulled wine, but Ryan didn't want any.  I did stop, however, for a chocolate-covered apple with sprinkles.  Of course.  We walked along the Market until it came to a giant square with more anarchist roads.  By this time, we were figuring we'd have enough time to eat and get to the train station, but we weren't that hungry just yet so we went to the hotel area thinking we can find something there.

Found a small restuarant where we each had a burger and fries.  The burgers weren't cooked all the way.  I only ate half of mine and munched on fries but Ryan didn't like the flavor of the fries.  I didn't think there was anything unusual with them. There was an energetic little girl running around and having fun.  She was cute and kept looking at the dessert display next to us.  When we finished our meals, our waitress came and said she was done with her shift so we're going to have to pay her manager, but we said we can pay now since we're done anyway.  When in restaurants, people usually stay behind and hang out over a cup of tea or coffee or a dessert.  But we were full and wanted to get on the move.  I was feeling homesick there too and told Ryan and he said it was alright, he was feeling the same way too.  We both sort of knew it wasn't to my extent, though. 

Once again, I felt better once we were walking.  We made it to the hotel but we still had an hour or two before we wanted to be at the train station.  So we chilled in the hotel foyer for a bit.  I called Mom and Dad from my mobile and of course they were awesome like they always are.  They said they miss me too but I'm over here making new memories and having the sort of holiday I would have never gotten at home.  Besides, we'll do our Christmas traditions when I get back.  I should know the tree isn't coming down anytime soon.  Heck, it's usually taken down in February, isn't it?  And I have Ryan with me so I should be grateful for that.  Also, if I wanted to change my flight to the States for an earlier one, then no one is going to hold that against me.  I can always do that if I want to. 

Then Ryan got the phone to ask about his ankle which was bugging him all day too.  Mom and Dad figure it was just sprained and that he should keep it elevated as much as he could.  They also started to talk about our time in Paris and about halfway through the conversation my phone ran out of credit to use.  So I sent a quick email to mom saying what happened and that we'll try to Skype from Berlin if the hostel has it. 

Walked to the train station after that.  I wanted to go into a supermarket to pick up some food for the train ride, but Ryan didn't really want any food.  (In restrospect, this was a silly idea, but we can't predict the future.)  We got some apples anyway and went to the train station.

Ryan didn't seem to realize that the Eurostar is different than other train services in Europe.  In Italy, there was no security and we got our tickets checked by a machine next to the train platform.  Same as France.  Our tickets were already checked so we didn't have to use the machine by the train platform, but we didn't have to be two hours ahead of schedule.  So we sta in a cafe to keep warm and listened to more Harry Potter.  Our train came by around 7:45/8:00p and we boarded as soon as we could.  We found a compartment for our stuff and sat there for a while.

A black woman and her two kids came by for all of two seconds and we hoped they wouldn't be with us because the kids were really loud.  They went away, thankfully, to be replaced by an old man and his young grandson.  I fell in love with this family.  The old man wore tweed and his handbag was black and very very old like him.  His grandson kept saying "Pourquoi?" which is "Why" in French and he answered in a slow and withered voice.  His wife was just as old and looked just as travel worn but in a different way.  She held herself like she came from money, and her fur coat further proved this fact.  She also looked as if she took this journey before and she was ready to do it again.  She was the one who wanted the sleeper and disappeared to find it.  When she did, she took the young grandson and carted him off.  The old grandfather followed them and we had the compartment to ourselves.

This was really nice.  Really nice.  We thought about laying down on the couches and sleeping there thinking that would be really excellent before an English guy came and told us we were in the wrong compartment.  We were given a couchette, which were beds to sleep on.  And we were like "Okay, sweet?"  The guy went on further to say he didn't like couchettes anyway.

You'll hear about the screaming kids later since this was about bedtime.  Oh the screaming kids.