Avignon, Nimes and the first Christmas

So, it was around 2pm or so I guess when we left Michel's house and started the hour or so drive to Nimes. However we stopped on the way at Avignon, where the cousin who was driving us lived. There we met his mother, Alix's aunty, who then took Alix, Eléonore and I into Avignon. We didn't have a lot of time but we parked and visited the outside of the Palais de Papes (Pope's Palace) which looks very cool and medieval, then walked down through the town and the Christmas market there. Alix and Eléonore had to buy a last-minute gift at FNAC, where you can scan any CD and listen to a sample of it! How cool is that!?!
Then we visited the Christmas creche in the Town Hall of Avignon. It was massive and very cute! They also had a life-sized model of a typical Provencal kitchen with people and everything!
We walked around the Christmas market some more, which was much bigger and better than the one in Montpellier. We also found some wall-paintings...they were window-shaped paintings where the windows should have been on the side of a building, but they were random paintings showing a variety of different scenes! Very cool!
We walked around a bit more before we had to go back to the aunty's house to get ready to go to Christmas (Eve) dinner in Nimes. I met the cousin's brother and sister and after a bit of a snack (chocolate croissants) we headed off.
At Nimes I met most of Alix's mum's family...Françoise has 4 brothers so it was them, their wives, their kids (Alix's cousins) and some of them had kids too, including the baby and the 2 year old Faustine (I don't know how to spell it) who we had babysat a few weeks earlier. In other words there would have been more than 20 people there.
I think we arrived around 6:30 or something so we had a long time to wait for dinner, which was around 9 or 9:30 I think. However, there was no way they were going to wait until then to eat. There was champagne and a variety of snacks including three varieties of olives (I think the grandma grows them) and these massive round containers made of bread and filled with sandwich triangles with all different patés and hams in them. Turns out you can buy these bread basket things and they're called something like Surprise Bread or Bread Surprise! How cute is that?
There was also these random little savory profiteroley things that were just pastry and cheese and air! Yummy!
So we sat around, talked and ate and took photos for ages before Santa (one of Alix's cousins) arrived to deliver an entire wheelbarrow full of presents for Faustine and her baby sister. That was funny because Faustine is shy and didn't want to kiss Santa!
Then she had to open them all, which took about half an hour. It was really cute in that 'i just want more presents I don't actually care what they are' kind of way. Also they don't seem to give Christmas cards here! I haven't seen any.
After that it was dinner time! Dinner was about 5 courses or so. It started with Oysters, which I had never had before but which were very nice. Next was I think the Foie Gras, which I didn't have, but I did have lots of the Pain d'espices (Spiced bread) that was supposed to go with it. And lots of other bread too. I think I ate about a whole little loaf of bread that night!
After that was 'wild bird' I think, which was more like bones with a little bit of meat on them. Lots of tiny little bones. But it tasted very good. All this came really slowly, which would probably explain why it was too filling.
I think that's everything...then it was time for dessert. Aparently there was 13 desserts but I didn't see that, unless each different type of nut and dried fruit counted as one. The Christmas log was really yummy...all chocolatey and rich!
After dinner was time for coffee and presents! I gave my presents to Alix, Eléonore and Françoise and recieved 4 books on the region from Françoise and some earings from Alix and Eléonore. Then I recieved some dice earings from one of Alix's aunts, and a bottle of Givenchy perfum from her grandma!!! It smells so good but I don't want to use it cause I don't want to waste it!!! I also recieved a little white bin covered in xute stickers from another one of Alix's aunts (she gave everyone a little 'green bin'!)
After that I gave out all my little Australian gifts, which everyone seemed to find pretty cute! Then I called home (aww) and opened my card and present from home, which was a babushka (I think that's what they're called!) It's really gorgeous, I love it!
By the time that was all finished it was very late and I guess we just sat around and talked a bit more before people finally started leaving and we went to bed.
Overall that was one very fun Christmas celebration and thankfully I wasn't feeling too homesick!
More later, got to go!
Emma.