I have the internet again so I can at last update the blog! This weekend has been very Christmas-y. Boulogne and Lille are both decked out to the max... in fact everything seems to have tons of Christmas decorations- even the lycee, which seemed odd to me since religion can't be discussed in schools... In France students can't wear crosses or anything related to religion, but Christmas is allowed, they even have les Vacances de Noel which I remember Loveland changed to "Winter Holidays" so as not to offend anyone. But, back to the local festivities. Lille has a giant ferris wheel and merri-go-round in the main square for the Christmas market going on there until the end of the month. I took these pictures before the market opens at 11, so it looks a little empty.

Something the U.S. should borrow from France/Germany (maybe other countries I don't know) is the Christmas market. You can find them in towns all over. Most go on everyday but there's one in the Vieux Ville in Boulogne that takes place only this weekend- pictures to come soon. Even though there wasn't a Christmas market last weekend here we did get into the holiday spirit by going to the L'arrivee de Saint Nicolas. There's a giant parade when Saint Nicolas arrives in town with lots of floats and animals and musicians. Then he leaves in boat by the port during a big fire work show... its pretty unique. Favorite part had to be the geese, which seemed random at first to me, but I loved them so there you go.

You can barely see the dog on the left side hurrying the geese along, not the slightest bit distracted by the audience.