I arrived early in the morning in Lyon, France. Tim picked me up with a bouquet of red roses. I was so excited to see him. He also bought me a chocolate croissant, a tradition he keeps whenever he picks me up in France. I just LOVE their chocolate Croissants. We arrived at his Hotel, at the Cite, near the conference center where he is attending VLDB. Apparently, he met a lot of people I knew before, eg, my mentor Laura Haas when I was working at IBM, as well as one of my advisors at MIT Sloan, Stuart Madnick. It was definitely a small world after all.
We had a small picnic at our hotel room, retracing our tradition 5 years ago. Afterward, we took a nap as we were both exhausted from the trip (me from jetlag, and Tim from his conference)
After we woke up, Tim told me to dress well, since we would be dining at a really famous French restaurant in the region,
Paul Bocuse's luxury restaurant l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near Lyon, which has been serving a traditional menu for decades. I was a bit nervous, wondering if he would pop the question during dinner. At his request, I dressed well, in a black dress and high heels. We drove a windy road to the top of the hill where the restaurant was located. When we stepped out of the car, someone immediately welcomed us and escorted us to a corner table in the restaurant. The decoration was quite fancy and everyone was impeccably dressed. Tim ordered us some Kir Royal as starters and we cheered as I noticed a reflection in the mirror. It looked like my advisor's wife. I asked Tim if it were her, Tim looked into the mirror and saw my advisor, Stu Madnick sitting there, just two tables away from us. At this point, I can't help exclaiming "What a coincident!" Apparently, Stu had also taken his wife to dine at Bocuse the same time we did! What are the chance of that! Both in Lyon, at Bocuse in the same evening! At that point, I was feeling a bit mortified for two reasons, that my advisor thought that a grad student could afford to go to Bocuse (we must be paying our grad students too well), and that I would be terrified if Tim proposed when my advisor was around. I decided that I should go to their table in case he's seen me as well. I went there and we had a bit of chit chat and I left when their first course came. After talking with my advisor, I felt much calmer and was able to enjoy the evening again but I did threaten Tim that he dare to propose right in front of my advisor. He said he had no proposal in mind. =p
The dinner was fabulous. We each ordered a 4-course dinner but the restaurant sent us 3 more complementary dishes. My favorite was the Frog soup or (Truffle soup V.G.E.). It was just so delicious, definitely one of the best dishes I've had in my life, if not the best.
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Afterward, we were presented with cheese and dessert buffet! The selection was incredible! But, we were way too full to actually eat much of it. But it was still amazing to look at the selection in front of us! During the dinner, there were various anniversaries and birthday celebrations. Every time, someone brought out a ancient music box and play the appropriate music. It was definitely nice.
Afterward, we spent another half an hour talking with my advisor and his wife. Since his wife is French, she gave us a lot of tips on where to go and where to eat. Later he advertised his Langley castle to us, thinking Tim's must be a really rich guy taking his girlfriend to fancy restaurant and staying at Boutique Hotels =p