Thanksgiving 2008 was the second consecutive Thanksgiving that J and I have spent abroad. Last year, we were in Costa Rica. I aways feel a little blue being away from friends and family during the holiday season. Being spat on on Thanksgiving Day didn't make make me feel any better. Can someone please tell me why you would circulate coins that are considered "rude" to use? If you don't want it, then I don't want it either! Those 0,01, 0,02, 0,05 Euro coins are either taking up valuable counterspace or weighing down my pants. But, whatever. I'll just laugh it off as a learning and cultural experience.
Thanksgiving afternoon was spent along the Champs-Elysees. We started at Place Charles de Gaulle with a trip up the Arc de Triomphe and ended at the Place de la Concorde in front of the Roue de Paris (a large ferris wheel). In between J and I enjoyed a lunch at McDonalds (my world tour of the Big Mac continues), the Louis Vuitton flagship store and the Champ-Elysees Christmas Market, which is apparently making its debut this holiday season. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of chicken noodle soup because chicken was the closest thing I could get to a turkey at the local supermarket.
I have a lot to be thankful for this year. If you had bet me a year ago that I'd be done w/ graduate school and living in Paris as part of an 8-month world-wide tour I would have laughed hysterically and given you 100-1 odds. You'd be a rich (wo)man.
1. Champ-Elysees as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
2. The Eiffle Tower as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
3. The spiral staircase of the Arc de Triomphe.
4. Big Mac Paris
5. Le M Paris (otherwise known as "el Mac" in Barcelona)
6. Louis Vuitton flagship store
7. Christmas Market shops along the Champ-Elysees
8. Christmas lights along the Champ-Elysees ending at the Arc de Triomphe
Current Location: Paris, France
