French Christmas Treats

Licking candy canes, building gingerbread houses, and decorating sugar cookies are typical American Christmas traditions. In France, vin chaud, or hot wine, keeps you warm inside and out. During the holidays, chestnuts roasting on an open fire are sold throughout the city. When it's time for Christmas dinner, oysters with petite sausages are often served in France. The traditional dessert is called Bûche de Noël, but you probably know it as a "yule log." Thin pound cake covered with buttercream frosting is rolled up, then frosted to look like a piece of wood. But, this is one tree you won't mind chopping with your teeth.

To celebrate the holidays, The Taunton Press is running a 25 days of Holiday Savings Sweepstakes. The Grand Prize? A 13-day Barcelona to Paris vacation package for 2 including airfare, on-tour accommodations, meals, sightseeing & more.

The French portion of the itinerary begins on the 4th day in Carcassone, where medieval fortifications and fairytale turrets, dating back to the 5th century, provide a storied setting for a guided tour and tales of the crusaders and conquerors who occupied this city. In the evening, cruise along the romantic Canal du Midi aboard a traditional Gabare flat-bottom boat. Dinner with wine and music at a private Languedoc vineyard follows.

Visits to Toulouse, the snow-capped Pyrenees, and the Atlantic coast are included. You'll also get a taste of French Basque country, where Cyrano de Bergerac resided.

Wine tasting in St. Emilion and a cruise along the Dordogne river are just a few of the things you'll experience before taking the TGV to Paris. In the City of Light, a local guide will lead you through the 17th-century Tuileries Gardens to the Musée de L’Orangerie, to see an extensive Impressionist collection. Celebrate your journey with a River Seine cruise and toast the art of French living.

In a holidaze? Escape and enter.

Voilà - the link to the 25 days of Holiday Savings Sweepstakes:

http://www.taunton.com/promotions/25Days/th_register.htm

Le Marais - The Premiere Arrondissement

Arrondissements, or neighborhoods, in Paris are numbered beginning with 1 and rising to 20. They spiral out from the center, like an escargot shell, until the city fades into oblivion, or rather, the infamous banlieues (suburbs). Having spent my Wonder Years in numerous boring bedroom communities, I prefer to be in the heart of the city, particularly the lst arrondissement, known as Le Marais. Named after the marshes that were drained during the 10th century, this historic gem was neglected by urban planners for centuries. As a result, sumptuous hôtels particuliers, or townhouse palaces, continue to thrive, and the streets are frighteningly narrow. Gus Van Sant directed a romantic vignette in Paris Je T'Aime about a guy who falls for a handsome stranger in a print shop in this tony enclave. The Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the Palais Royal all call Le Marais home, and I wouldn't mind doing the same. Plenty of pricey apartments are available for vacation rentals, especially along the Rue de Richelieu. Reader's Digest is giving away $19,500, which is enough to cover a few months in a charming flat, like the ones you've cooed over in movies. Digest the opportunity and enter.

Voilà - the link to the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes:

https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/RD/RDA/self_sweepsJan10_FTreg.jsp?cds_page_id=77004&cds_mag_code=RDA&id=1271373497812&lsid=31051816091031025&vid=2