birthday trip
For my birthday, my wife took me to Paris. It's been a while since we've been, two years, I think. I have missed it.
We started at the Champagne bar at the newly refurbished St Pancras station, before catching the new 2:20 Eurostar Friday night. After dropping off our bags, we headed for a quick drink before bed. The barman left the bottle of wine with us and charged us six euros for I don't know maybe five glasses. Interesting place.
She booked a hotel quite close to Bastille, which was a great area for us to be in. We found a lovely artisan patisserie with the nicest people, just around the corner from the hotel for breakfast. We wandered around some great shops in the area before going to lunch at Cafe Lateral, which was excellent, as always. We then paid to go up the Arc de Triumph, which, bar the Eiffel Tower, is the best view in the city. The weather was beautiful, which was novel. We were up there for maybe an hour, before heading off to Galeries Lafayette, where we looked around a bit and caught the sunset from the terrace. I needed a rest and my ipod, she needed a bath. Then dinner. Bofinger. I wasn't expecting the best food, but the atmosphere was what we were looking for, we had oysters, and it was a lot of fun. I was a real man, ordering food for both of us and a half bottle of wine each, in French. She likes that.
The one thing I wanted to do was to go to Sunset to see some live jazz. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it because dinner started late, and of course took a while, being in France. I decided since it was my birthday, we'd go take a chance and if we couldn't get in or it was too late, we could just grab a drink in the Marais. Fortunately for the both of us, we only missed the first set of three. It's not cheap, but the Tigram Hamasyan Trio was amazing. Even the wife liked it. In no way were they jazz lite, but he still played very melodically and with such strong lines that there was something those not so enamoured with jazz could follow. We bought the CD. Since the show ended at the worst time of the night to get a taxi, I took her to Cafe Mabillon. I knew it would be just her sort of place, and for me, it was like old times.
It was a good weekend for both of us. We both want to go back soon!
We started at the Champagne bar at the newly refurbished St Pancras station, before catching the new 2:20 Eurostar Friday night. After dropping off our bags, we headed for a quick drink before bed. The barman left the bottle of wine with us and charged us six euros for I don't know maybe five glasses. Interesting place.
She booked a hotel quite close to Bastille, which was a great area for us to be in. We found a lovely artisan patisserie with the nicest people, just around the corner from the hotel for breakfast. We wandered around some great shops in the area before going to lunch at Cafe Lateral, which was excellent, as always. We then paid to go up the Arc de Triumph, which, bar the Eiffel Tower, is the best view in the city. The weather was beautiful, which was novel. We were up there for maybe an hour, before heading off to Galeries Lafayette, where we looked around a bit and caught the sunset from the terrace. I needed a rest and my ipod, she needed a bath. Then dinner. Bofinger. I wasn't expecting the best food, but the atmosphere was what we were looking for, we had oysters, and it was a lot of fun. I was a real man, ordering food for both of us and a half bottle of wine each, in French. She likes that.
The one thing I wanted to do was to go to Sunset to see some live jazz. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it because dinner started late, and of course took a while, being in France. I decided since it was my birthday, we'd go take a chance and if we couldn't get in or it was too late, we could just grab a drink in the Marais. Fortunately for the both of us, we only missed the first set of three. It's not cheap, but the Tigram Hamasyan Trio was amazing. Even the wife liked it. In no way were they jazz lite, but he still played very melodically and with such strong lines that there was something those not so enamoured with jazz could follow. We bought the CD. Since the show ended at the worst time of the night to get a taxi, I took her to Cafe Mabillon. I knew it would be just her sort of place, and for me, it was like old times.
It was a good weekend for both of us. We both want to go back soon!