Noel

The photo is today's post on ParisDailyPhoto (link in the blogroll) and reminded me of ten Christmas seasons I spent in Paris. This was my time 'between marriages' and so the last thing I wanted was anything too Christmassy.

Paris wasn't bad in those days, basic decorations only and not too over-the-top. The only problem was that on Christmas Eve one stuck out like a sore thumb at a table-for-one in restaurants offering an over-priced 'festive menu'.

My solution was to buy the fattest paperback book available and retreat to the Coffee Shop of what used to be (I think) a Sheraton Hotel next to Gare Montparnasse for a dinner without the seasonal excesses or price-tag.

Here in the Sandlands there are Christmas decorations aplenty. Santa has been recruited and cloned to death in the interests of retail marketing, all of this coinciding nicely with the Dubai Shopping Festival. Ho, ho, ho! Do buy!

But in Abu Dhabi I have my regular table at le Baujolais in the Novotel. Yes, there will be a special menu but never mind. The joy of le Beaujolais is that it hasn't been given the glamour styling which make so many hotel restaurants (here called 'outlets', for some reason) totally daunting. The place truly retains the charm of a small restaurant in a French provincial town, with a good chef consistently producing tasty dishes at a reasonable price. And with many of the other regular guests being being from the French ex-pat community my high opinion seems to be widely shared.

The maitre d', Buddy, and his crew of friendly Filipinas will certainly be wished by me a Very Merry Christmas.