wandering_gal

My friend and I are travelling to Europe this coming Holiday Season and we are planning to spend Christmas in Paris. Can anyone suggest a perfect place to spend Christmas with a bunch of maybe tourists as well or even locals. I was thinking to have dinner then head on to a bar or something. Im not sure if there is like a place in Paris where people can do picnic or gather in a square.. have no idea. We certainly dont want to just stay in our hotel room.

flpab

http://www.secretsofparis.com/heathe...-in-paris.html
I would go to the Marais district myself. I am not a big Christmas ritual person. We normally go to Key West and sit on a bar stool but Paris sounds fabulous.

Christina

They do have a lot going on around the Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame, where people gather at times (ice skating or special outdoor light shows), you could go by there in the day time. It will be too cold to picnic. As for Christmas itself, I don't know if any special gathering point for that. Your plan sounds okay to me. I'm not religious myself so don't celebrate Christmas for religious reasons, I like to go to a movie often. They are often open in the US on CHristmas, not sure about Paris (seems less likely, but who knows).

stokebailey

Paris streets are full of people at Christmas. The area in front of Notre Dame will be lively on the 25th, and so will the steps of Sacre-Coeur. Christmas night last year, or maybe a day or two later, musicians and dancers held onto each others' shoulders and did medieval dances in the rain. It was magical.

If you walk around, plenty of places to eat and drink will be open, and fun street scenes will unfold.

stokebailey

The medieval dancing was in front of Notre-Dame.

Robert2533

You can keep up with what's going on at: http://www.paris.fr

Southam

FLPAB: Thanks for the nice blog link.

wandering_gal

Is the celebration in Notre Dame will be happening on Christmas Eve? or Christmas day? If its christmas eve then sounds great, we may head there before hitting a pub and get some drink. We were thinking Disneyland on 25th? would it even be open at 25th?

Christina

When you say "celebration" at Notre Dame, I gather you don't mean religious services? Their website will probably have details on any special show they may put on (they do some special visual effects thing). I don't know about the medieval dance thing stokebailey mentions, but he/she didn't even remember the day it was.
Go to www.notredamedeparis.fr, then the calendar, maybe or the events or something. If you are in Paris ahead of time, just go by the church and look at flyers or something, it will be posted.

The Paris TO website has lots of good info on what is going on, see http://www.parisinfo.com/decouvrir-p...s/noel-a-paris check animations en famille or "ou sortir"

Of course Disneyland will be open, they wouldn't lose a chance to make money. I think they are open every day of the year.

denisea

No need to stay in your hotel room.

Christmas Eve will be a bit quiet as that is the night that most French spend with family. christmas Day is not that dead. Things start opening up in the afternoon. If you want something nice, many of the nice hotels will offer nice dining options. You can hit area of Paris that are not inhabited primarily by Christians and you will find things open,

Can't help you with Disney...not my thing.

spaarne

<i>Christmas in Paris
Posted by: wandering_gal on Oct 2, 13 at 5:09pm
I was thinking to have dinner then head on to a bar or something. Im not sure if there is like a place in Paris where people can do picnic or gather in a square.. have no idea. We certainly dont want to just stay in our hotel room.</i>

Stay in your hotel room! Mon Dieu!!
You look like you will enjoy the Caveau de la Huchette, http://www.caveaudelahuchette.fr/index2.html on Rue de la Huchette. Go to the back and down the stairs to the cellar for music and dance. I lived nearby and had many good nights there.

wandering_gal

Christina, hi btw, my real name is Cristina as well. anyway, I am Christian but so not religious. Maybe we can visit a church but not really have like a Christian-oh-so-religious-celebration. I was thinking of street dance, maybe parade or a fair, maybe a carnival. I dont know it will be my first time. My friend who lives in france is not in Paris so she's not that familiar with whats happening in paris as well.

Spaarne, Thanks for the link. I actually send the site a message asking if they would be open in Xmas Eve. Can you tell me what sort of place is that? Like a club where there will be cues and packed? what sort of crowd goes there? Hopefully there will be no creeps coz im travelling with a girl as well. please fill me in. Thanks.

stokebailey

Hi, wandering. I mentioned dancing near Notre-Dame but wasn't specific about the day to make the point that the streets will be full of people doing interesting things all around the holidays

Last year celebrated the 850th anniversary of Notre-Dame, and the lines for Midnight Mass were crazy long. Ditto to get in the next day. I don't know what it's like on normal years, but the city is unusually full of tourists over the holidays. Midnight Mass at any of the beautiful old churches would be an experience, assuming not too much celebrating in the bars beforehand. Usually starts 11 PM.

LePetitParis

Paris is over-the-top at Christmas with 120 streets illuminated with lights, window displays, ice skating at the Hotel de Ville and Trocadero (across from the Eiffel Tower), and Christmas Markets. You can easily wonder the streets and be aw-inspired by the lights and window displays. Expect the weather to be cold, so a picnic might be out of the question. If you stick to the center of Paris {districts 1-6}, you will find restaurants that will be open. I would highly recommend at least heading to the Department Stores {galeries lafayette & printemps in the 9eme} to view the buildings drenched in lights, and animated window displays. Place Vendome, not far from the department stores typically has over-the-top decorations, too. One year, they hung huge chandeliers down the boulevards...But with the Ritz being closed and major construction in that area, it may be disrupted this year. If anything, don't stay in your room...bundle up, a good map in hand, and hit the streets and be prepared to be amazed!!

Bon chance et bon journée

wandering_gal

LepetitParis, merci boucoup for your advise. I will definitely wont be staying in our hotel room and order roomservice while watching french teleshows. Wandering is what I love to do. I will be searching for those Christmas markets, and admire Xmas decorations in your mentioned area.

LePetitParis

There are Christmas markets that offer Provençal crafts & food on the Champs Elysees, St. Germain des Pres, Trocadero (Eiffel Tower), and near the steps of Sacre Coeur {Montmartre}. The Trocadero is a great spot since they offer ice skating, too - with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop- great memory makers!!

Christina

<<Bon chance et bon journée>>

You obviously don't know French very well at all, so why try to pretend you do? Both those words are feminine which is extremely obviously, especially the ending on journee, and the words "bon" and "bonne" are not even pronounced the same way. If you are going to use these phrases, learn how to spell them or it looks foolish.

I really get tired of people writing gibberish in French but trying to act like they know it to impress people. I've just seen this so much on Fodors that it probably bothers me more than others, but when your screenname is also trying to pretend you are French, I've had my limit. And the fact that you run a business trying to pretend you are an expert in Paris and "French language" as your website claims is a joke.