Happy New Year!

2013 has been an incredible year for us. New adventures, new experiences and new friends. Time has flown by. I can't believe that we've been in Paris for almost a year now. I can't wait to see what 2014 brings.

There is a lot to do on New Years Eve in Paris, including fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, but Lori and I are spending a quiet night at home. We've never been big on going out for New Years. We'll have some Chinese food for supper and a bottle of champagne later. We hope all of our friends and family have a Happy (and safe) New Year.

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Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. Sounds like most of you in Canada had a white Christmas this year. We had a wet and windy Christmas in Paris. Linda and Colin came over last night and we had a great time. It was part European and part North American. First we had some champagne and snacked on some delicious terrines that Linda and Colin brought.

Then I fell back on an old standard and we watched "Christmas Vacation". It's just not Christmas until I see Cousin Eddy in his robe, pumping out the RV. Lori gave me one of my presents early and I will be sure to have a Merry Christmas with it.

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Weekend

We had a great weekend exploring Paris with Linda and Colin. Unlike Eastern Canada, the weather in Paris has been fantastic. On Saturday we walked through the city until we came to the two big department stores Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. Both decorate their windows for Christmas. There are some windows just for kids and others look like high fashion art.

We took the metro to St. Germain for lunch. Then we walked along the river where Linda and Colin took part in the local tradition of putting a lock on the bridge and throwing the key away.

Lori asked why we aren't romantic enough to do this and I told her that I don't partake in civil disobedience. Then we stopped in to the Great Canadian Pub for a few drinks (I was craving a Caesar) before heading back to our place to finish off the night. It was a great day.

On a side note, Lori finally broke down and went shoe shopping. Most people (including myself) have been surprised that Lori hasn't gone crazy buying shoes while in Paris. That changed on Saturday when she found a store that was closing and having a clearance sale. She walked out with six pairs.

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Arc de Triomphe

I was out touring the city with Linda and Colin the other day and we went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I had never been to the top before because I hate waiting in lines, but it wasn't bad at all. It's much quicker than waiting at the Eiffel Tower, but that's probably because you have to walk up 284 stairs.

It was worth it though. The view of the city is incredible. This is the view to the east, down the Champs-Élysées.

This is the opposite direction. The cluster of office towers is La Défense where Lori works.

You get a pretty good view of the Eiffel Tower too.

I just love looking at the street layout. No wonder it's so easy to get lost, there are no right angles in this city.

We could see some really nice roof-top gardens as well.

It was a great day and I highly recommend making the trek up if you are in Paris.

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Vienna

Another great weekend in another beautiful European city. Like Stockholm, we had no preconceived ideas and were pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed Vienna. This was even better because we got to share it with our friends Linda and Colin. The main reason we went was because we had read great things about the Christmas markets and this is a city that knows how to do Christmas. Many of the things we associate with Christmas like trees, evergreen boughs, yule logs and mistletoe originate from this region. There were several markets throughout the city and we visited 5 of them. Each one a little different than the others but they were all well-attended.

Lots of great stuff to choose from.

The food was incredible. The Viennese are known for their sweet tooth and the pastries and cakes were delicious. This cream ring was enormous and it weighed a ton.

Lots of great sausages as well.

The market looked even better at night.

It wasn't just the markets either, they had the whole city decorated. Here is one of the trams passing though downtown.

The lights over the streets were impressive.

If you love Christmas, you should really visit Vienna at some point. I'd love to go back.

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Weekend

I'm meeting Lori in Vienna tonight. She's flying in from Oman and we are meeting at the airport. Then we're meeting our friends Linda and Colin tomorrow. We'll spend a few days in Vienna and then they are flying back to Paris with us. Linda and Colin have had a bit of an adventure getting to Vienna due to bad weather in London. I hope the rest of their trip goes well.

I'm looking forward to exploring a new city, visiting the Christkindlmarkt or Christmas Market and spending time with friends. I was hoping to see some snow in Vienna but I don't think that's going to happen. Speaking of snow, I hope all our friends and family in eastern Canada stay safe this weekend. Sounds like quite the storm is headed your way. I miss a good snow storm.

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Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets)

By the time we returned to Paris, all of the Christmas Markets had opened. Since I'm all alone this week (Lori is away on business) I decided to go out and explore a few of them. There are small markets like this one outside a church in our neighbourhood

and there are much larger markets like the one at La Defense. This is right outside Lori's building.

There are all kinds of booths. Some are corporate like Samsung, others sell junk like Shamwows but it's mostly crafts and food. I found one booth promoting Quebec tourism. They were selling poutine and maple syrup among other things. The gentleman I spoke to told me they have eight booths in markets across France and Belgium. I was very happy to buy some beer from them.

The largest market in Paris is on the Champs-Élysées. I went over in the evening so I could see the lights. It's really hard to capture an image that shows it properly. This is what you get when you have a slow camera and shaky hands.

It doesn't really show anything but I thought it looked cool. Here is the entrance to the market.

I bought some roasted chestnuts while I was there.

I needed something to wash them down with so I bought a beverage to go with them. Here's my free tip of the day: when you see a sign that says "Hot Wine", that's exactly what you get. It's not a clever name for something else. It was pretty good but I'm glad I only got the small glass.

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The New St. John's

Dennis has been back a couple of times, but last week was the first time I've been back to Canada for more than a 12 hour layover since we left in early January. We had a terrific visit back home in NL.  Too short as the visits always are, but we packed in as much as we could:  2 days at the cabin, a fabulous Jigg's dinner, 2 days of house hunting (we're buying a property with Mom and Dad), Ches' fish and chips, a great night out with my best friend Hilda and her husband Wayne, meetings with contractors and realtors, a day of staging Mom and Dad's house, and a little shopping to pick up all of the things you can't get in Paris.

St. John's has certainly changed from the St. John's I knew growing up.  Evidence of the new oil-fueled prosperity is everywhere.  Housing prices heading into Calgary territory, trendy shops and trendy restaurants, and much more variety in everything.  But so far, St. John's is managing to balance it with the old things that gave the place such character.  Jelly Bean Row house colours have taken over the city, live music can be found every night of the week in any number of cool pubs and bars, and people are as friendly as ever.

The greatest thing I noticed though was that the missing generation is back.  When we left in 1994, all of Newfoundland seemed to be populated with people under 24 and over 50.  The generation in the middle was conspicuously absent - we had all left to find work elsewhere.  I'm not sure when it changed, but I'm glad it did.  After 20 years of never seeing myself ever going back to St. John's, it comes as a bit of surprise to now realize that I'm looking forward to going home after I retire.

Happy holidays everyone!

Lori

Jiggs Dinner

One of my favorite things about Newfoundland is a Jiggs Dinner and Lori's mom cooks better it than anyone. For someone who's not from here and has never had one before, it may seem a little strange at first but once you've had it, you'll fall in love with it too.

The history of a Jiggs dinner goes back to the days when Newfoundland was just an outport and it was difficult to get fresh meat and vegetables. While the ingredients vary from region to region (and even within families) the basic version consists of salt beef, potatoes, turnip, carrots and cabbage. The closest thing I can think of would be corned beef and cabbage.

Salt beef is chunks of beef preserved in a brine and in order to make it edible, the beef has to be boiled to remove the brine and soften the meat. Housewives discovered if they cooked the vegetables in the same pot, the brine and meat would give them a great taste. The beef would be shipped in large barrels and you would select the pieces you want. Today the beef comes in buckets and can be bought anywhere.

Like I said, there can be other things in the pot as well like turnip greens and parsnips. The salt beef could be replaced with salt riblets also. One of my favorite things about a Jiggs dinner is the peas pudding. This is yellow split peas cooked in a pudding bag hanging in the pot. Some families do not use gravy on their Jiggs dinner but Lori's mom always cooks a roast or a turkey separately in order to create gravy. Here's a photo of my first plateful. I took it before I put the gravy on.

As you can see I'm not from Newfoundland originally because I have very little salt beef on my plate. I love the flavour it gives everything else but I'm not a fan the beef itself. Too chewy and stringy. I do love to make hash out of the leftovers the next day though so that makes me an honourary Newfoundlander.

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