FEATURE
Noel à Paris
By Angelique L. Villaraza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:49:00 12/21/2008
Filed Under: Festive Events (including Carnivals), Lifestyle & Leisure
IF past Christmases have assaulted your senses with tacky dime store décor, plastic versions of Santa jumping at you from every direction, loud repetitive canned jingles, maddening crowds, and gift baskets of items you will never use, then a Noel à Paris would be a luxurious antidote to this depressing cookie-cutter commercialization. The City of Lights offers a rich but tasteful holiday experience.
Paris is small, and it’s possible to walk through the whole city for a closer inspection of its Christmas ambience. Or if you want to go faster, hop on a rented Velib’ bicycle.
Rows of white and crystal chandeliers hang above the Place Vendome, in the spirit of the French avant-garde. At Le Marais, Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe converts the Hotel de Ville into an open-air ice-skating rink. A traditional set of Christmas trees finds its spot once again in front of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame, the best place to bring your family for a candlelit Midnight Mass. The Champs Elysées is lined with thousands of miniature lights. Les Marchés de Noel (Christmas markets) spring up in La Defense, the Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain-des-Près and the Champs Elysées with wooden booths of vin chaud (hot wine), gingerbread, regional specialties, handmade gifts like cashmere leg warmers, pottery, ceramics and an endless variety of gourmet treats.
Being the fashion capital of the world, the most creative displays are found in Paris’ many store windows. Families make it a point to reserve a day, just for a tour of these grandiose designs. Fauchon on the Place de la Madeleine is renowned for its exceptional displays, and is used as a landmark for those in the luxury goods industry. Galeries Lafayette, Printemps Department Store and the LVMH-owned Le Bon Marché compete for the most dazzling holiday façades. Past displays have included penguins dressed up in haute couture, ice queens in puffy ball gowns, a whole building lit to resemble a jewelry box, 18th century chairs and chandeliers spray-painted powder blue.
Christmas shopping in Paris is easy, because the city is chockful of shops that offer novelty items, special pieces that are rare or of limited edition, with the option of a custom-order. If you don’t have enough luggage space to pack gifts, there are small treasures from stationery shops, the haberdashery, in the old book stalls lining the River Seine and the weekend flea markets. Who wouldn’t want to receive a handful of vintage buttons to refresh a tired blouse or dress?
Explore the Faubourg Saint-Honoré for chic home furnishing and quality cosmetics. Speaking of quality cosmetics, for a vivid memory of Paris, bring home a bottle from Frédéric Malle, arguably the best perfume maker in France. He works with nine noses to create exceptional fragrances. There are 17 scents, but look particularly for French Lover, Lipstick Rose, and my namesake, Angéliques sous la pluie. He has shops in the 1st, 7th and 16th arrondissements.
Head to The Marais for eclectic fashion, unique jewelry, antiques and fine art. It’s possible to spend a week at the Saint-Ouen Flea Market, hunting for vintage fashion and accessories, antiques and oddball items. There’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés for books, candles and home accessories. Impress candle connoisseurs by giving them Cire Trudon, a French candle manufacturer with a history dating back to 1643. Trudon was appointed official wax producer to the court of Versailles in 1687 and continued to supply Marie-Antoinette and Louis XIV during their captivity, before going on to make candles for Napoleon. The brand recently launched a collection of 12 scented candles, drawing inspiration from its illustrious past. The exact recipe is a closely guarded secret. If you’re too lazy to sift through all this sensory overload, then head directly to the usual default multi-brand lifestyle boutiques Colette and L’Eclaireur which carry well-edited capsule collections and limited-edition pieces. In these shops, you’ll find something for even the most difficult-to-please person.
The build-up towards Christmas is like a drumbeat, with churches, restaurants and retailers all in sync towards December 24. Then like a sudden 180-degree turn, Paris shuts down from December 25 until the New Year holidays are over. This is because most Parisians are really from other provinces in France, as well as other countries. Family time is still important here so the streets are emptied as residents return to their places of origin, dine at their ancestral homes and spend quality time with loved ones. What remains is a handful of tourists roaming the peaceful boulevards. On such moments, Paris has a cinematic quality: mysterious, ghost-like, romantic. Hearing your lone footsteps echo on the cobblestones evokes a nostalgia that could propel you to write a book or poem.
The French take their holiday break seriously. It’s impossible to get any work done during the summer months of July and August, and in the Christmas season when most Parisians scurry off to hibernate with family or to recuperate somewhere warm and exotic.
After Christmas Eve, my family usually opts to spend a few days in châteaux just outside Paris, where it’s still possible to enjoy the festivities with the local population. Most French villages create their own animation with an old-fashioned carousel, booths selling roasted chestnuts, artisan crafts, hand-sewn home linen and santons, which are figurines that make up the Nativity scene. Renting an apartment with a fully-equipped kitchen is the best way to enjoy and cook local delicacies. Since the restaurants are closed on Christmas Day, it’s necessary to serve the family meal at home. Food lies at the center of French life, and for an authentic French experience, it is necessary to sample the season’s offerings.
The French holiday feast opens with a platter of oysters, freshly delivered from the ocean. Besides the many classic Parisian brasseries which proudly display their selection on sidewalk stands, a good place to eat oysters is L’Ecaille de la Fontaine in the 2nd arrondissement. It is owned by actor Gerard Depardieu, who also operates La Fontaine Gaillon, just a few steps away. L’Ecaille offers a daily selection of ultra-fresh shellfish.
The hunting season officially opens in early September and closes in late February, so Christmas is the best time to appreciate the unique flavors of game, whether it’s deer (daim or biche), boar (sanglier or marcassin), wild ducks (col-vert or sauvageon) or other birds (palombes or cailles). Two excellent restaurants feature those animals prominently on their seasonal menus: Chez Michel in the 10th arrondissement, which focuses mainly on Brittany-inspired cuisine, and L’Ami Jean in the 7th arrondissement, a South-West gastro-bistro.
Buches de Noel (Christmas logs) are the typical dessert to end a holiday meal. They are either made of ice cream (bûche glacée) or sponge cake and buttercream. Any corner pâtisserie will offer a selection over the holiday season, but if you want to go the haute-cuisine route, you can opt for one of the six different bûches that will be available from Pierre Hermé boutiques: Azur (chocolate and yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit), Dune (praline and pistachio), Envie (blackcurrant, violet and almonds), Ispahan (raspberry, rose and lychee), Plénitude (chocolate and caramel) or Sarah (chestnuts, green tea and passionfruit). These are log versions of some of the delicious cakes from his fall/winter collection. The rue Vaugirard location is much less crowded than its rue Bonaparte counterpart. While you’re at it, try the new chestnut and dog-rose macaron.
In France, chocolate is considered as a food group in itself. It’s normal to consume large quantities of it, from pain au chocolat for breakfast to a rich cup chocolat chaud at Angelina’s. For the holidays, bring home a chocolate sculpture from Patrick Roger, one of the best chocolate artists in Paris. He offers a new take on the classics by playing with unexpected flavor combinations, which has earned him the distinguished title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2000. In his Saint-Germain-des-Près boutique, where the staff is very friendly and the heady scents will knock you over, you’ll have trouble deciding what to get—ganaches, pralines, orangettes, truffles or simply tablettes. Whatever you choose, you’ll love your selection, neatly arranged in the signature green ballotin. Over the holiday season, Roger creates delicious fir-trees made of chocolate, caramelized almonds and orange rind.
Roasted chestnuts can be bought from sidewalk stands. Paris is not really a city of street food—Parisians like to sit down for their meals. But crepes and roasted chestnuts are an exception. While the former are available year-round, the latter appear as soon as the weather gets chilly, especially on busy boulevards in the vicinity of department stores. The chestnuts are roasted on crude metal drums until tender, and for a euro or two, you will get a nice serving—piping hot—in a paper cone, which you can peel messily and eat while you resume your shopping. And if you prefer glazed chestnuts, the above-mentioned Patrick Roger and Pierre Hermé offer superior versions.
After a year of constant financial bad news, volatile stock markets, work and relationship stress, penny-pinching, belt-tightening and everything else that make you feel sorry for yourself, I recommend that you end the year by splurging on yourself and family in Paris. Go for fabulously broke. This way, you won’t have a checkbook to balance. Then start the new year on a clean slate.
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