Its oysters and champagne season again. That is, Paris is getting ready for the holidays! Here are some classic(!!) signs of the season

Oysters – Oysters are best eaten in the colder months. They are plumper and more flavorful. Our local Oyster guy appeared in mid-October. He has a stand in front of our local Carrefour on Friday and Satuday. Oysters have also appeared in the markets. The fish vendors at our local market are now selling oysters and a number of oyster only sellers have popped up. Oysters are very popular in France especially for Christmas and New Year’s eve meals.

Champagne – Stores everywhere are stocking their shelves with dozens if not hundreds of bottles of champagne. In a nearby Monoprix they had a whole wall of champagne cubbies to fill.

Beaujolais Nouveau – Beaujolais Nouveau appeared in the shops and restaurants today! I did a post on this our first year here. To celebrate its arrival I bought a bottle to drink tonight. Beaujolais is a lovely light red wine. Definitely enjoyable.

Chocolates, chocolates, chocolates – All the grocery stores have filled their aisles with stacks and stacks of chocolates! I wrote a post on this as well our first year here. The stacks and stacks of boxes of chocolates were so stunning! They still are!

What next?

Christmas markets! – Fille is super excited to see the Christmas display in the square in front of our local city hall. It was so impressive last year. I think it goes up around December 6th.

Christmas trees! – We will be buying a fresh Christmas tree again this year, though smaller than our huge tree last year, to fit in our smaller apartment! See our posts from last year and also our first year here! The trees should arrive soon in our local store!

Christmas window displays! Just like NYC the major departments stores have special displays in their windows. This year November 20th was the day the windows were unveiled at Galeries Lafayette. The windows have 11 scenes with 14 characters inspired by the bees (Light show, Queen’s banquet or even Winter garden). They also have a huge tree in the interior domed building.