Our traditional Christmas would be spending breakfast, lunch and dinner surrounded by loads of family and friends. Due to the lack of family around us, we had a very good plan to have a great Christmas. Wow, that plan went out the window!
So, the plan was to wake up and open present from each other, rent a scooter and pick it up at 10am Christmas morning. Keep in mind Megan finished work at 2am and we got to sleep about 3am. From here we would head to the Champs Elysees, have a nice warm breakfast/brunch and then head home to Skype with family.
Afterwards we would go to a Christmas party we were invited to by a couple from the Moulin Rouge friends, go ice skating on the Eiffel tower, drive the scooter around and see the Paris Christmas lights, walk through the Champs Elysees Christmas markets, then head home after a huge day.
What Really Happened!
We woke up and gave Christmas present, watched our dog Archie tear them open and listened to Christmas carols. We headed over to the scooter hire company in the 6th arrondissement and picked up our scooter. We were making good time and enjoying our day however starting to get very hungry.
This is where it all started going pear shaped. We arrived at the Champs Elysees at about 1045am and needed to get some cash out from the BNP bank. We walked inside and attended the cash machine where we were robbed or scammed by two Roma teenagers on Christmas day. To cut a long story short they got away with 300Euro which equals approximately $450aud. To read more about the events that unfolded, Click Here…
At this point we thought we actually got away unscathed and received a close call so we continued to enjoy a nice warm breakfast on the Champs Elysees.
It was not until we got home that I realized that something was strange about their reactions when I was trying to fight them off. I checked my online banking and to my disgust there was a deduction of $450 which we did not withdraw. We then spend the next three and a half hours at the police stations making a report.
Now that it was all finally over it was time to salvage what was left of Christmas and join the party we were invited to. Unfortunately we were only able be there for 45minutes before everyone headed off to work at the Moulin Rouge. However for that 45minutes it felt very much like Christmas and I had one of the best tasting beers of the year symbolizing the fact that we can relax and enjoy the day at last.
After the party we drove around looking at some amazing Christmas lights and attending the Christmas markets. I’m fairly certain that everyone else in Paris had the same idea as the markets were buzzing with people.
While at the markets we took some great photos, ate some not so health food, purchased a bunch of junk food to take home and then decided to give the ice skating a miss due to the time and Megan could hardly walk with all the blisters on her feet. Her first week back at work in new shoes have not been kind to her feet so we really thought ice skating would make it much worst.
We scooted back to our apartment and enjoyed some Rum, a gingerbread man and some lollies before passing out in a sugar and alcohol induced stupor. This was another point of our Christmas day where it really felt like Christmas.
Our Thoughts
So our Christmas day did not go as planned nor will it go down in the books as our best Christmas ever. There are so many people in the world suffering at this time of year and all we lost was a little bit of money and time. We are very grateful to be where we are at this point in our life and to be sharing our Paris Journey together.
Through the good and the bad parts the thing we loved the most about the day was that we face the challenge together and at no point did we give up and throw in the towel. It will be a Christmas day we won’t forget and maybe even tell the story to our grand-kids one day.
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