Friday, September 30th dawned as a nice sunny day for my 57th birthday.
I was up early enough to get birthday wishes from everyone before they started their school/work day and Lynda and I headed out to find some breakfast.
One of my favorite things about Paris was the abundance of cafes and bakeries and we decided to try one we hadn’t been to yet.
We walked about 3 blocks to Boulangerie on the corner of Rue de la Glacière and Rue Daviel. We’d been by there quite a few times and decided it was time to try it.
A pastry, cheese bun and a tea at an outdoor table made for a great breakfast. Not even the flying rats were going to spoil my meal.
I had yet to buy a baguette on our trip so I went back in for one before we left.
The lady ahead of me got to the counter and said; “Une baguette s’il vous plait.” The lady behind the counter got her one and she left with her bread.
It was my turn and I said; “Une baguette s’il vous plait.” I must not of been as eloquent as the lady ahead of me as the clerk laughed a little when she went to get me my bread. (I’m well aware that I butcher the language in the few words I attempt but I try.)
Baguette in hand, we headed back to the apartment to wait for Lucille to be off school.
We had some of the pastries that Lynda had bought earlier and some baguette for lunch before we headed out shopping for wine.
I had wanted to buy a bottle for my neighbours Bruno and Shar (I don’t actually know how she spells her name so I’m guessing.) and find something for us to bring home to try later. You can buy wine in the grocery store but my sister had told me not to do that but to go to an actual wine store.
We headed out to visit the wine store Lucille liked. We got there and it was closed. A few other stores in the area were closed and it looked like they were taking a late lunch so we wandered around the neighbourhood waiting for it to re-open.
When we got back to the wine store; it was still closed but everything else had re-opened so we continued down the road to Nicolas Tolbiac. Nicolas is a chain so my hopes of finding a wine from Nice weren’t going to happen but I picked a couple of bottles. Lynda picked a bottle of wine for one of her clients and a bottle of champagne for us. (Reports back were we chose wisely and our bottles were pretty good as well.)
Successful shopping trip accomplished, we headed back to the apartment to wait for Curtis to be off work.
Finally it was time to walk to the subway to head down to the Bir-Hakeim stop so we could go do our supper and river cruise.
I had wanted to go to Amsterdam for Indian food for my birthday supper but with Lucille in school and Curtis working, it would of made for a very late supper so I accepted a meal on a boat at the base of the Eiffel Tower and a river cruise on the Seine as a substitute. (I know, I know; poor me.)
It was still daylight when we got out of the subway and we made our way to where the boats leave to start the tour. The next boat looked pretty full so we decided to have supper first. (I think this made Curtis very happy.) I would of liked to cruise the river in the daylight to be able to get better photos but I really liked the idea of a night cruise.
I found a way I liked wine; with grapefruit juice as I had a pamplemousse rose while my bride had champangne.
I didn’t take a photo of my veal and polenta. The veal was like a stew in tomato sauce and it was a lot different that the usual cutlet that I have had in the past. I liked it better than a cutlet and with the tomato sauce; the polenta was good as I’m not usually a fan of it. I did get a photo of my bride and her meal though.
I did get a photo of my dessert though.
Another very good meal finished; time to head out to the boat for the cruise part of the evening.
The boat was pretty crowded on the top level but even though it was a cool night; I wasn’t about to sit inside.
There was commentary of what we were seeing along. I know we saw some bridges and we saw some buildings but other that Notre Dame and the Louvre; I don’t really remember much else.
While it hadn’t seemed all that long; our 75 minute cruise was over.
I took 1 more photo of the Eiffel Tower (because I didn’t have any so far) and we started making out way back to the subway to go home for the evening.
I had gotten just over 15 thousand step on what I’m calling my best birthday ever. I’m not usually one to celebrate much on the day and I often go away on a solo trip at that time of year to avoid any such thing. I had thought my birthday in China was pretty cool (and it was) but this one; with my bride and sister and brother in law; surpasses it; and by a wide margin at that.
Hank's Blog - Musings of a Wandering Mind 