“Christmas festive season in France”
2021 Is our very first ever Winter Christmas!
Thanks to COVID & the NZ government's MIQ system making it very difficult to go home, we are staying in Europe for Christmas. On the bright side sometimes not having a choice in what we can do is okay, even though we will miss our family terribly Marcel & I are determined to make the most of our first and most probably last winter Christmas.
While out walking a few weeks ago through a park where the contractors were busy putting up Christmas decorations it hit me how lucky we are to be able to spend this, our very first winter Christmas in Europe, putting aside COVID and all it entails. Every day it seems we experiencing the European Christmas spirit. Here is our winter Christmas wonderland itinerary packed full of Christmas markets & beautiful places to see while cruising down the Rhine.
- Paris for three days
- Basel - Switzerland
- Breisach - Germany
- Strasbourg - Germany
- Ludwigshafen to Rudesheim - Germany
- Rudesheim to Lahstein - Germany
- Cologne - Germany
- Amsterdam - Holland
Trading our summer Kiwi barbeques for Christmas markets, Mulled wine & Rudesheimer Kaffee
For a couple of Kiwis that live in Auckland NZ and have spent most of our NZ winters holidaying in warm countries, it has been quite a big ordeal preparing to stay for an entire winter here in Europe. Just to understand how cold it really is going to be and what type of clothes we need has been quite stressful. Thanks to helping from friends, family, and Google hopefully we are prepared to venture outside over Christmas and experience the best of the Christmas spirit, so looking forward to the Christmas markets and everything that our river trip has to offer.
Christmas preparations in Les Sables
The festive season here Les Sables has been fun to watch, each day while out walking more and more decorations have been put up in the streets & parks, the decorations are taking over the streets which is great as it helps to take our minds off the sometimes wet cold miserable weather. There is also an abundance of brightly decorated Christmas trees, in the parks, lining the streets, in the shops, it really is Christmas tree mania here.
“Our first-ever winter Christmas market” Small and buzzing with Christmas cheer!
It was such a thrill to go to our very first Christmas market here in Les Sables. We didn't even let the cold & drizzle stop us from going back for a night visit. The market was super busy and stunning with the castle lit up in the background. Even though only people with COVID passes were allowed to enter the market and masks were mandatory we decided to go back the next day when it wasn't so busy to buy more Christmas presents. The castle is a maritime museum and was open with a very interesting display of old and new seafaring technology.
An update on “Kiri Maia2”
Most days our daily walk takes us past the Lagoon yard & pier. This month Christmas madness seems to have arrived, the Lagoon yard and pier have become a hive of activity. With boats, yes more than one are arriving every day. It's amazing how quickly the finishing work is carried out, the boats are then put into the water and the delivery crews arrive to sail away in them. At this stage, we have been told Kiri Maia2 is still on schedule to be delivered at the end of January. Let's hope any possible COVID-related hold-ups don’t intervene before Kiri is handed over to us.
How has COVID affected us
Up to now, we have kept pretty much to ourselves, everywhere we go we wear our masks use hand sanitizer & keep our distance from the people we come in contact with. Now that we are leaving the comfort zone of our apartment & Les Sables and will be in contact with so many people we will defiantly have to be even more careful, as there is a lot of countries we are planning on going to for the Riverboat cruise and our trip to Greece and back.
For now, we are looking forward to,
Enjoying site seeing in Paris, our Christmas riverboat cruise & then a road trip to Greece to pick up our gear that was left in storage from when Kiri Maia one was packed up & sold.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Karen B.
