Yes, palm trees. It still gets me.
But this is France, where Christian holidays reign and Catholic ideals are king even if nobody actually practices Catholicism anymore (and most French people I've met so far are completely uninterested in religion and faith- quelle bizarre!). So it's coming on Christmas and even the small city of Antibes is in the middle of transforming it's town square into a winter wonderland. Evergreen style trees have been brought in, a white picket fence was built and lights have been strung from the lamp posts. They have even made snow!
Did I mention it's still 60ish every day? Yeah, so the snow was made and then covered with a tarp and somehow refrigerated outdoors. This seems like an awful waste of resources to me and kind of silly. I mean, can't we just embrace the fact that we live in a warm climate and get creative about Christmas decorations? By this I mean, what's up with the fake snow??? I will admit, however, that the blue lights at night are kind of adorable against the palm trees, so that's a nice touch.
Wow, that was a long post about the weather. In other news, not much new stuff has been happening. I'm just sort of going through the motions until the Christmas holiday when I go traveling for two weeks. I've been spending my days off trying to make sense of the rest of my job-related paperwork so I can rest easy after the New Year and just enjoy the rest of my time in France. There is still so much I want to do while I'm here, but so far I have been working pretty hard on just getting settled and making sure my money will cover everything I need and want. It looks like everything is going to be fine, though working within the French system has forced me to rustle up more patience than I ever thought I could have.
With any luck after our fabulous Christmas trip Leigh and I will have enough time and good weather to take a trip to Cinque Terre. I guess we should call this Cinque Terre Take Two, since we have technically been there already but the rainy weather sent us home a bit early and we had a shitty time at the hostel there. This time we're planning to stay over in a different hostel just outside of Cinque Terre but about 30 minutes by train from the trail. It's a bit cheaper and more convenient to reach from France, so it should be a good experience. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed for good weather and a little extra spending money after our crazy Christmas holiday!
I've also done some research on my plans for February. For a few months now I have been toying with the idea of spending one week of my two week February holiday attending a Christian retreat in Taize, France (kind of near Dijon). This week I finally figured out the best transportation to get there and did the budget and it's totally do-able! I'm so excited to get to do this. Also, since I'll only be away for a week, I can use the remainder of that holiday to take little trips around southern France and maybe try out the couch surfing thing. Plus this year Mardi Gras falls on my birthday, so I plan to attend the Carnivale in Nice at least that day.
Well, enough thinking too far ahead. I really should be focusing on preparing for the Christmas trip. It's going to be a blast but, aside from making reservations, I haven't done much of anything to get ready! Before I know it next Friday will come around and I'll be on a plane to Geneva!
Ah, les Alpes, sledding, wine, chocolate, old cities, and Christmas Markets galore! What more could a girl want?
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