Another good night’s sleep and we were ready to step out for another day of exploring. Breakfast was perfect to get us going, so after cleaning up, we were off.

Today we decided to visit the Christmas market at La Défense. Located outside of the city, La Défense is the more modern area with high rise buildings and the Grande Arche. And that’s where the fun began.

We hopped on the metro and traveled to the Les Halles station. From there, we hopped aboard the RER A train and took it to La Défense. Disembarking, we headed up to the exit only to find out that we couldn’t exit. Our tickets were only valid for Zone 1.

Sixty-six year old gate jumpers would have made for a great headline, but we opted not to gate jump. Hell, I have enough problems walking up stairs. So after weighing our options, we got back on the train and returned to the previous station. From there we bought a ticket for the proper zone and then got back on the train.

With that little difficulty settled, we headed to the Marche de Nöel. This is a huge market. There are over two hundred stalls, plus rides for the kids and a separate area where they hold concerts.

There were many stalls selling everything from nuts, breads, cheese, jewelry, toys, nougat, chocolate, manger figurines and so much more. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, especially those partaking in the Vin Chaud!

We walked around for a while, were enticed by a few vendors to try their goodies – nougat, gingerbreads, spiced breads, cheese and nuts, and then grabbed a little bite to eat. We both had a dish of Aligot: Sue’s with duck breast and mine with sausage. Both were delicious treats.

The ride back was much easier with our proper tickets, though the trains and metro were crowded. It felt good to get back home to rest for a while.

Since we hadn’t stuffed ourselves at the market, we decided to book a reservation for dinner in the evening. Wanting to stay in the area, we chose Cafe Louise for our dining pleasure. It’s just two doors down and always has lots of local people there.

Our hunch was correct, as it turned out to be a perfect choice. It was nicely decorated and the seating was comfortable. Our waitress was extremely nice, encouraging our use of French and approving of our selections.

We started off with a glass of champagne just to be festive. For starters Sue had a delicious pork terrine and I had house made seafood spring rolls with shrimp and salmon. For our main plate, Sue had the braised beef cheeks while I continued with the seafood theme and had a lobster roll. Sue had a glass of red burgundy, while I went with a white chablis. Everything was awesome.

They were really mine, but for dessert we shared an order of profiteroles made with chestnut ice cream and then finished off with a glass of port wine. Wow! It wasn’t expected to be this good, so it was quite a treat for a last minute reservation.

We took the three second stroll back to the hotel and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.

More fun to come tomorrow!