Bonne Année!

After smooth travels back from the States, Jason and I arrived in Cambridge just in time to welcome one of our closest friends from grad school. Traveling from different points in the US, we met in Cambridge on December 30th and, deciding to be adventurous, departed for Paris on the morning of the 31st to welcome in the New Year.

Can you tell we were still feeling the effects of the jet-lag as we settled in to our seats on the train?


Don Seo, on the other hand, was to excited about his first Eurostar trip to feel the effects of sleep loss.


A short 2 and 1/2 hours later and we were exploring Paris. Our first stop was the Louvre:



Next, we hit the Notre Dame Cathedral, complete with a huge (albeit kind of pathetic looking) Christmas tree.


Before our New Year's Eve dinner, we went back to the Louvre to see it all lit up. Sadly, pictures can't do justice to how neat it looked.


Next, we were off to Le Petit Machon for our 10PM (yikes!) dinner booking. With all the traveling we'd been doing, I decided I better make sure we were out and about when the New Year hit, otherwise we might have all fallen asleep waiting. Our dinner choices came from the following very French menu:


Sergio started with the smoked salmon and caviar, followed by the venison both of which he reported to be delicious. Jason and I slipped up on our selection of starter - the Lobster Bisque was not good. It smelled a bit like the sea shore on a hot day...yum. Luckily, the fatted fowl was much better and dessert was amazing! We rang welcomed in 2010 while enjoying icecream in homemade waffle bowls. The waiters and waitresses brought around glasses of champagne to each table and then led us in a toast, "Bonne Année!" Once the champagne was served, they put on some party music (none other than Michael Jackson!) and entertained by dancing between the tables. It was definitely an experience that we won't soon forget.




After a nuch needed sleep-in on New Year's Day, we set out in some fridgid temperature to see a few more Parisian sites before catching the train back to Cambridge. Of course, no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower:


And, much to my delight, I finally understood the meaning of that Christmas song "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire."


Happy New Year!