The Christmas Market
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
16
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Laon,
Picardy,
France
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Sunday December 7th
This weekend there was a Christmas Market in Laon. They seem to have them everywhere in Europe. I have been to a few now, and they are all pretty similar. Laon's was small, but it had a few interesting tidbits. When we got there they had Caroler's singing. Apparently music is not a very important part of Christmas here, because almost all of the songs they were singing were in English. It was nice nonetheless. They had rides for kids, a couple food vendors and fake snow once in awhile. It was a really foggy day when we went, and we could not even see the top of the cathedral (the market was in front of the cathedral). Later in the day Santa was supposed to "descend" from the cathedral. I was with Susanne and Isabel and we were not sure what that meant. We had some time to kill until the big event, and it was freezing, so we went and hung out in a café for awhile. When we got back it was almost time for the mystery. Everyone was gathering around the base of the cathedral, and the Carolers were encouraging everyone to sing a song for Santa. Then he appeared. He physically descended by rope from midpoint of the cathedral. He was swinging around, waving, and standing on gargoyles. Everyone was cheering too. They had a bunch of fake snow, which were actually bubbles, everywhere. I tried to get some pictures but they are not very good due to the bubble snow. After he made it down the cathedral, all the kids made a mad rush to the cathedral because he was going to hand out candy to all the children. Isabel and I found a small artisan market underneath the cathedral, which really didn't have much, while Susanne made friends with some donkeys that were there. A little bit after Santa descended they were supposed to have fireworks. Everyone began gathering on the side of the cathedral. It was still super foggy and freezing. They started playing some Christmas music and the fireworks started going off. Due to the fog, you could barely see them. Plus, as they shot more fireworks off, the smoke from them made the sky even foggier. You could hear the fireworks, but could see nothing. They had to stop the show early and apologized to everyone. Overall it was still and amusing time, even though it was the dinkiest Christmas market out of all the ones I saw. It was cute in its dinkiness though.
