Day Seven Paris: Septième Jour; Christmas Eve Day

Joyeux Noël et joyeuse Hannukah…

Greetings from somewhere between Paris and Geneva on board TGV fast train.

This note is from yesterday, December 25 and I doubt that I will be sending any note tonight since (other than dinner) most of the day is being spent in transit… Hotel to Gare de Lyon; TGV to Geneva; transit to Geneva hotel, etc. But I will try to send just a little photo spread of Le Trein Bleu at the Gare Lyon station… later tonight.

Yesterday (December 25/ Christmas Day) we started out early to catch the train to Angoulême, to spend Christmas Day and dinner with Julien’s family who are from this small city (approx 200,000 people) and live in the outskirts, about 15 minutes from the center— in the countryside.  [To get you oriented and know who is who—Julien is married to Julia, Mike’s niece. They have three children and live in Geneva. where Julia grew up. Julien’s aunt is Katerine and his mother is Joelle.]

Because plans for Christmas were up in the air for a while, and we only confirmed that we would come to Angoulême a few days ago, and because it was Christmas and everyone is traveling somewhere, we were unable to get the fast train from Paris (which would have taken about 1.5 hours). Instead, we needed to take the train to Bordeaux and change trains in order to get to Angoulême. So the trip took about three hours and 15 minutes. We left Paris where the mist was still strong and arrived in Angoulême where it was quite sunny and a bit warmer than Paris.

Christmas dinner was at Julienne’s aunt Katherine’s house; Christmas Eve had been at Joelle’s house, but we missed that one. For those who have been following this travel blog for decades, you know that we come to Geneva almost annually and then generally travel elsewhere after the Christmas holiday. This year everyone’s plans were up in the air and it was difficult to coordinate. So we decided to head to Geneva to see Mike’s sister-in-law (Elizabeth) but also to see Julia and her family (three children: Louis who is 7; Ella who is 5; and Sienna who is 1), which meant heading to Angoulême for Christmas Day. Over the years we have met much of Julien’s family—at Christmases and at the wedding. But we had never been to Angoulême (and in retrospect probably should have come for a few days–as Julien kept insisting–rather than just Christmas; but the day was good.

Katerine lives (part-time, I think) in a sprawling “homestead” with several stone buildings built originally about 900 years ago (and renovated on the inside numerous times). The property is exquisite and includes a landscaped garden in the English tradition with hedges that form a maze of sorts. There is a lovely terrace and a large field and a swimming pool. Inside the stone house are about five bedrooms, sitting rooms, living room(s), dining room, and numerous foyers, and a wonderful large, modern kitchen. We were given a tour of the house by Margaux (one of Katerine’s grandchildren who is about 8, I think. She doesn’t speak English so the tour was translated for us by Ella who is 5 and Louis who is 7). They had a definite plan for how to see the house which started from the gardens and around the outside and then the inside, including all the bedrooms and bathrooms.

After wine/champagne and snacks, and a bit of catching up on how everyone is doing—and the kids opening tons of presents—we moved on to dinner—which seemed like a classic French Christmas dinner with foie gras and tasty small plates with meat; a game dish, potatoes au gratin, and lots of other selections. This was followed by a selection of local cheeses and then a wonderful chocolate covered chestnut dessert…. And ofcourse lots of wine.

Louis (Mike’s great nephew ?) and his cousin Matteus (who is a few years older) engaged in a pretty hot game of gin rummy; the girls were busy drawing and using lots of new art tools that were part of the barrage of presents.

We left by train (thankfully, the fast train) at 9 :30 and were at our hotel in Paris by about 11 :30 pm—tired and stuffed— in time to pack up and get ready for the train to Geneva in the early afternoon.

Happy Happy-

Fern