Last Day in Paris

We lounged around the apartment Wednesday morning, having coffee and breakfast and catching up on emails, writing in our journals, etc. It was a wonderful morning.

We left about noon for an audio walk in the fashion district. The walk focused on the life of Coco Chanel, and it was really interesting. That area of France is home to Cartier, Armani, Van Cleef, etc.

Coco’s life was quite interesting and mysterious…was she a Nazi sympathizer or a double agent? She was definitely the creator of the Little Black Dress.

Here are some scenes from our walk:

 Pretty fancy restaurant where Coco and her friends often met for lunch and dinner.

 These watches were beautiful and cost more than houses.

 Coco Chanel once lived in the Ritz. Betsy wanted to check it out, but I’ve noticed that we haven’t been very welcome when we enter hotels where we aren’t guests. Plus…this whole area was Ritzy and fashionable and I was wearing jeans. Betsy always looks stylish. So, as I looked on, she walked into that hotel like she owned the place. It’s one of the things I love about her.

Here are some photos she took.

Chanel store windows.

Harry’s Bar is another place Chanel and her high society friends frequented. We would have had a drink there, but it seemed like no one was home.

Palais Garnier, the Paris opera house.

Back home, we rested a while because we had dinner reservations with one of the fancy dinner cruises, Bateaux Parsiens, supposedly the best in the city. I bought the tickets with a guaranteed window table. Every review I read talked about how wonderful it was.

Here’s the thing about us, though, it doesn’t matter how spectacular something is supposed to be…somehow it never is for us…or it is, but more in spite of what happenes than because of it.

We have a table curse. It’s been going on for the last 30 years. We are always seated at the table by the bathroom, by the kitchen, by a smoker…or the table rocks or the chair is broken, or all views are blocked….it happens so often that we laugh at it…like it’s our thing.

But this time, I thought I had guarded against it. I bought a guaranteed window table for two. We looked at the boat the day before. What could possible go wrong?

This went wrong…and I know he’s blurry…but that’s sort of on purpose. See that orangish pillow? Betsy is leaning against it.

Turns out of all the Privilege Seats (the package I bought) just one on the entire boat is a bench seat. So, instead of your own private window table, there is one table…just one…that has another table close beside it and two strangers share the bench seat. We were led to that table. Oh, we got the window…but we also got “the guy,” who was on the dinner cruise alone….which meant he was on it with us.

He talked nonstop in the thickest English accent I have ever heard and mostly could not understand. Betsy ignored him completely, but he was facing me…and I just couldn’t. I wanted to…I kept trying to think of a nice way to say: Please allow Betsy and I to have our own conversation?

I thought of a million ways, but with him about 18 inches away from us, I just couldn’t say it and then go on my merry way.

So, I heard the history of the Russian/French alliance that led to the construction of one of the bridges we passed under…I heard a good bit about Brexit…I heard a lot about his trip to Paris 15 years ago. We happened to be in Paris then, too. I can’t believe we didn’t run into the guy.

He was nice enough, I guess, though socially awkward. Mostly, I didn’t understand a word he was saying…and often times I turned my head to look out the window, which was the point of the cruise…but I kept it in one position so long that my neck was sore this morning.

No, he did not ruin it for us. It’s just another story to tell, but it would have been better if he had not been sitting with/beside us. Even so, I’m glad I wasn’t rude or dismissive to him. That would have ruined the experience for everyone.

As for the rest of the cruise, Paris at night from the Seine is gorgeous. Truly beautiful. I will definitely want to take a boat trip at night in the city when we return…but this time…on one of those simple open air boats.

The dinner, however, was exceptional. Betsy had some sort of crab appetizer and I had salmon. Her dinner was Sea Bass and mine was beef. We both skipped the cheese course and went straight to dessert, which was fantastic.

Here are some views from the Seine:

 Look how great she looks…and she was feeling sick when this was taken. She now has a full blown respiratory thing as we head to Brussels.

The music on the cruise was fantastic. When we passed Notre Dame, he sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and when we passed Lady Liberty, he sang New York State of Mind. Lots of other great songs, too…like Just the Two of Us…though in our case, it was Just the Three of Us.

 This chocolate raspberry dessert Betsy ordered was outstanding…we think it may be the best bite of dessert we’ve ever had.

Think of this as peaches and cream…and it was delicious.

So now, we are speeding along toward Brussels where we will spend one night and then board a plane in the morning for Boston. We’ll be staying in Boston one, too…then…home.

Betsy is sleeping.