Christmas 2005 in France

This was the second year spending Christmas with Arnaud de Gordon and his parents, Georgette and James, in St. Chaffrey, France. It was a quick weekend trip this year. I flew to Turino, Italy from Frankfurt on the 23rd. Arnaud was there to greet me and we drove through the tunnel and over the mountain pass into France. Turino is the site of the 2006 Olympics (February) and everywhere we looked there was construction and banners in preparation for the big event!

The French valley and ski resort Serre Chevalier is famous for its sunny weather - an average 304 sunny days in the year. We weren't disappointed! The preceding week was cold, but sunny and the weather continued throughout the Christmas weekend. Arnaud's parents live in a renovated ancient village house, complete with arched stone ceilings where the wine cellar is and rough hewn timbers in the rooms above. It is a stone's throw from the village church and river that flows through the village. I was treated to a warm welcome and dinner - tripe was on the menu for the night, but backup steak was provided for the American at the table!

The next morning, after a lazy start, found us with snowshoes in the Vallee Claree', hiking up the sides of the mountains. I finally cried "uncle" with my underdeveloped muscles and knee wincing a bit, and we returned to our parking place in the valley, but truly enjoyed the new sport and the scenary! Arnaud's mother had been busy in the kitchen while we were away and we enjoyed a late meal and then a nap for me!! We attended the 8:00pm Christmas Eve mass together. Due to the number of tourists at the holidays, there are too many people to attend at the local church so we went to the neighboring village's community center instead. The trick for me was singing Christmas carols in French!

After evening mass we had a marathon Christmas Eve feast starting with foie gras and continuing from there! It was well after midnight by the time we dug into the traditional yule log (merangue and sherbert) and we crawled into bed by nearly 2:00 a.m.. That, of course, was AFTER setting our boots out for Santa Claus to fill!

We didn't get an early start the next morning, but had fun examining all the gifts that had been left in our boots! After tearing through the paper and shiny bows, it was again time to eat! Georgette prepared a delicious duck which followed the escargot and preceded the mushrooms in cream sauce, salad, cheese, and of course the remaining yule log! Arnaud and I contributed an exceptional cabernet wine we had purchased on our March trip to the Napa valley. After our big meal, Arnaud and his father went to work on the computer, but Georgette and I tried to shake the food coma by taking a walk around the village. She showed me the ancient St. Arnould chapelle and the house of famous (at least in France) French world ski champion and now road rally racer, Luc Alphand.

We were all up early the next morning and piled into the car to Italy and the airport. We left the sunny French valley only to find a thick layer of fog blanketing the Italien Piedmont and the airport. After a parting expresso at the airport, we said goodbye to the De Gordons with Arnaud and I heading to the gates. Little did we know that we had a three hour delay (fog) and subzero temperatures to look forward to! The airport is undergoing major renovations, presumably for the February Olympics, and the majority of the waiting areas were open to the outside and not heated, despite construction walls. It was actually so cold we could see our breath in both the cafe AND the gate waiting area! I've never been so glad to get on a plane (to warm up) - ever!

We landed in Frankfurt without event and I took a late night train back to Nuernberg. It was great to be home, asleep in my bed, while visions of yummy French food danced in my head!

-Tiffany