So we’ve been contemplating how to enjoy the finale of my 65th birthday year. We decided to visit some European Christmas markets. After much discussion, we arrived at our decision. We have decided to visit Paris in December.

Our choices were between taking a river boat cruise in Germany, a train trip in Switzerland or going to France. We factored in things like weather, transportation, cost and comfort, and at the end of the day, we chose Paris. I swear, the decision was not rigged!

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Our first option was a river cruise in Germany. There are many itinerary choices from different companies. Most of them hit the bigger market towns such as Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Würzburg. The itineraries are all similar, with stops at the towns and an opportunity to visit the markets for a few hours.

While they all sounded interesting, there were two issues with the cruises: the first being that it is basically too late to book one for this year and the second is that I would prefer to do a river boat cruise in the summer with the sun shining and nature blooming. Wintertime on the boat just doesn’t do it for me.

Our second option was to take a train trip in Switzerland. There are Christmas markets in many of the towns, and since there are Swiss, French and Italian regions in the country, there would be a variety of markets to see. We’ve been to Switzerland before and know how things work (ie. rail passes, train types), which would make things easier.

My issue with Switzerland is that it is too big for just a ten day trip. Our last trip there was for six weeks to be able to enjoy the various towns. A shorter trip would have us using too much time traveling and not enough enjoying the markets.

Which leads us to our third option and ultimate choice: Paris. There are actually seven different markets within the city; plus, we could enjoy the displays at the large department stores like the Galleries Lafayette, Printemps and Samartaine. There are others that could be easily reached for a day trip. Places like Strasbourg, Colmar and Reims are just a couple hours away via TGV.

Travel logistics would be much easier: only one hotel and everything would be walkable or we could use the metro. Additionally, we could catch a holiday concert at one of the nearby churches. Cost-wise, Paris would be much less expensive and we’re certainly familiar with getting around there.

So now we have some additional planning to address. Not being a travel procrastinator, we’ve already booked our flights and hotel.

If you could see my desk, you’d see piles of Portuguese plans on one corner, piles of Paris plans on the other corner and baseball schedules on the file cabinet. It’s a bit of a mess, but one I can easily tolerate.