Christmas memories: christmas market at la defense in paris

One of my most cherished Christmas adult memories is my trip to Paris during the holidays in 2001.  Paris, a beautiful city all year around, is spectacular during Christmas.  Everything was lit up at night, and there was an air of celebration in the air.  I simply loved it, especially because I had such high expectations of Paris and was not dissapointed in the least bit.  We took on the typical sightseeing sites but the one thing I will always remember was the Christmas Market at La Defense.  We stumbled upon it by chance, trying to figure out what the area with the modern buildings was.  And boy, were we happily surprised.   

This is the entrance to the market and inside was a world of wonderful things to see, smell and above all taste.  I have always loved food, so this nose can smell food whenever it is around.  At the time I was stationed in Germany, and during Christmas there were Kris Kringle Christmas Markets everywhere, so I was really excited to see what I would find inside.

In the market stalls you can find all kind of things; from ornaments, to clothing, to kitchen items like tagines and you can even go to the skating rink, and have a go at ice skating.  I of course, didn't do this because I am super accident prone. :-)  I can tell you though, that my main focus was the food stalls.  I still remember the beautiful and simple confections.  I bought so many food things that my backpack was really heavy.  Look at the picture below.  I am one happy girl...surrounded by cookies!!!  I even forgot how cold I was.

I stopped at every food artisan I could, and had a great time.  Before going to Paris, I always heard that French were rude, but they were nothing but sweet to us.  And at the market I was so in awe of these artisans' talent, that they seemed so pleased I loved their creations.  One of my favorites was the nougat.  We eat nougat or turron at Christmas time in Puerto Rico.  It was so delicious!  Aren't these confections so beautiful?

As I walked around, I saw this Santa Claus statue and I knew I had to have a picture by him.  And I did.  This is one of my favorite photos of all time, because it shows howhappy I was to be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world at Christmas time. 

I wish I was there again but I am not.  Still, I have the memories of this wonderful trip to keep me happy forever.  :-)