Joyeux Noel!

M and I decided on a whim to spend Christmas in Paris. It was a bit of mayhem the night before when our flight was cancelled due to the fog that was sweeping the South East the few days before. As soon as I find out at 7 pm on the 21st, I call British Airways (our original flight was on the 22nd morning from Heathrow) and after some deliberation, we re-book to fly from Bristol at 8:20 the next day, the only other flight available in the morning from Bristol.

This however meant that we had to leave the house latest 4:30am in order to make it. Driving in the intense fog was a bit of a nightmare on some parts but we arrive on time and after checking in, ITV Bristol interviews me.

I'm serious. I, who ranted away about our transportation woes to everyone in sight was delighted that I could now do it on regional TV. After hearing my spiel for a few minutes, the ITV guy asks me, 'so why are you going away for Christmas?'. Duh. I realise that I am on the wrong track-the focus of the program was on why people are changing the tradition of spending Christmas with family and friends and going away on holiday instead. I mumble something about the stress of entertaining and cooking and go catch my flight.

In Paris, we trawled a few Christmas markets while sipping hot chocolate, feasted on fine sculptures and paintings, joined the crowds admiring the delightful window decor at La Fayette and Printemps, salivated at the gourmet markets, ate at Montemarte. This apart, we spent a lot of time doing nothing at all, sipping coffee, nibbling on the most gorgeous pastries and reading our books while the world passed by.

It doesn't change the fact that we freezed our asses out walking around.