Writing From : Metz, France

Welcome to Monday Rendezvous!

I’m so excited to be started a new blog post series every Monday to recap what went down over the past week, get my brain going for the week, and hopefully give you a laugh or two and give you something to look forward to on Monday, a win-win-win! Mandy, of Presque Perfection, gave me the title idea… and I love it! Thanks, girl 🙂 Be sure and check out Mandy’s travel blog and Instagram!

This week is all about the Metz Marché de Noël, and some other tidbits! Leave it to me to go to a Christmas Market and my favorite photo from the day be 15 photographs stitched together of a beautiful door, but hey- it’s Christmas red! So without further adieu…

This weekend marked the start of the 2017 Weihnachtsmarkt Season! Christmas markets are one of my favorite parts of living in Europe. Back in Houston, the Ballet puts on its’ Nutcracker Market at Reliant Center it’s lovely and shopping filled, but outdoor markets filled with Glühwein and European treats is just magical. There are parades in the crisp air and St. Nicholas (no, not Santa) walking around greeting everyone. It’s the most Christmas I’ve ever seen jam-packed into each cities walkplatz. Everyone should experience it!

This holiday season though, we plan to venture out of Germany! The past two years have allowed Teylor and me to see pretty much all the German Weihnachtsmarkts we’re interested in. We definitely plan on going back to our favorites, but we wanted to explore the French Christmas markets, les marchés de Noël!

So Metz Marché de Noël was a great way to kick it off! We’ve been wanting to visit the town for a while now, but life gets in the way and we just hadn’t done it yet. It was fun to see the town for the first time all decked out in it’s Christmas attire!

Some other random thoughts about the Metz Marché de Noël:

• Greyson loves massive French bretzels (they are bigger than him!), and he danced dramatically everytime he heard Christmas music (which was nearly all day). It was the best!

• Vin chaud is the French version of Glühwein, and although it was delicious I think I might prefer Germany’s take on mulled wine a tad more. I’m curious to try vin chaud at other French markets so I can make a proper decision on the matter!

• The French were fascinated by my wine tumbler! They all stared and had lots of questions about how it worked, if it was one piece or if I had put an actual wine glass in a regular tumbler, and where I had obtained such a genius invention. So whoever has the time to sell wine tumblers in Metz- you would make a killing, you’re welcome.

• The decor wasn’t nearly as elaborate as a Weihnachtsmarkt, but it was still beautiful with Christmas chalets all in a row and of course, the food areas smelled incredible.

• Speaking of food, Teylor tried escargot for the first time and it was delicious as always! I’m not mad about being able to get quality escargot at a Christmas market!

And other thoughts and lessons learned from the weekend:

• Germany gave us some sun for Alicia & Alex’s session! (She has a great name, right?!) I’m so excited to edit their gallery and get more glimpses of the sun- who knows when we will see it next!

• I had a miniature panic attack when Teylor casually mentioned I should get our Thanksgiving ingredients on Sunday since ya know, Turkey day is Thursday. I quickly made a list of dishes I wanted to make and headed out. Well, I somehow left the list at home and at the grocery store I was 100% lost. I recalled the dishes, but I soon realized I don’t know their ingredients as well as I thought that I did. I ended up with a cart full of ‘stuff’ not enough ingredients to fully complete a single casserole, oops. I made it out with a frozen pecan pie though!

So that’s it! My weekend in a nutshell. I hope you all had a fantastic Friday through Sunday and enjoy family and lots of food later this week! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂

(And seriously, how cute are Alex and Alicia?!)