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Monday Nights in Paris

Posted by (Seattle) on

We are traveling from Vienna to Ottawa in December, with a 22 hour layover in Paris on Monday, December 22. We will basically be in the city around 4 pm Monday and leave again on a noon flight Tuesday. Two adults age 55 and our 20 yr old daughter.

We've been to Paris several times (we are lucky with friends all over Europe) but they were all spring/summer/fall trips. I'd love ideas for a dark Monday night in December just before Christmas, when being a flaneur in the streets might not be that exciting. Is there anything open late on Mondays? Any special Christmas things that you can recommend?

Thanks in advance - and for those of you going to Paris soon and looking for a special meal, I highly, highly recommend the prix fixe lunch or dinner at Halles Au Grains in the Bourse Aux Commerce museum. We did it with 6 people for diinner last summer and loved it, and my friend did it solo for lunch upon the recommendation of her tour guide, and also loved it. My spouse just came back from visiting his parents and loved Willi's Wine Bar, as well.

Thanks!

Posted by
13 posts

Thanks CJean! I should have thought of that, and the link was really helpful. The one at the Tuileries looks perfect for us with the 20 yr old, b/c we think we're staying around Les Halles. We will be coming from Vienna and Salzburg and comparing the Christmas markets will be fun. If the weather's good, we'll go to the Arc de Triomphe, which we've never done, b/c it's open late.

Posted by
11060 posts

The Paris "Christmas market" at the Tuileries will be an enormous disappointment if you are coming from the Christmas markets in Vienna and Salzburg.

Posted by
366 posts

My first thought was exactly the same as Kim’s. The Christmas markets in Paris pale in sorry comparison to the ones of eastern France, Germany, Austria etc. They’re full of Chinese-made tourist tat and rather terrible junk food.

Posted by
1049 posts

It looks like there are concerts at Saint Eustache, Sainte Chapelle, and La Madeleine that night.
As for the markets, I agree with the above. I've been in Paris the week between Christmas and New Years, and the markets I walked through were a disappointment. With that said, the lights and the festive atmosphere of the city itself are lovely. Enjoy!

Posted by
11060 posts

What Rachel said - a concert, a stroll through a light-festooned passage or two, a look at the windows at Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, or Le Bon Marché -- all are lovely. Just don't waste your (limited) time schlepping to a "Christmas" "market."

Posted by
11447 posts

Except for Alsace and perhaps Lorraine, Christmas markets are new commercial ventures, not old cultural traditions.

That said, thank you for the list because my next weekend in Paris in December, I'm going to hightail it over to the Gare de l'Est market for Alsacian ingredients. Winter is choucroute garnie season, something not seen often in Occitanie.

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