The Aura of Friday the 13th…Full of Surprises!
Bonjour,
The last two days have been full of surprising aggravations so today, Friday, the 13th is pretty appropriate. Allow me to explain.
Yesterday, we had reservations at Jules Verne in the Tour Eiffel at 12 noon. This was a generous and very expensive extravaganza from Bernie to James, Andrew and me. He never said but I’m guessing the bill was 1500 euros. The guys were a bit late getting to the Metro but were smartly dressed in their new suits and shoes just for the occasion. The dress code is pretty fierce, and the restaurant reminds you several times about coming inappropriately dressed!
All was well until we got in the queue for security when we heard an announcement that everyone must clear the perimeter. We were totally confused, and then the crowd buzz started that everything was closed down. People started leaving. It’s now 11:45. Then someone else said there was a fire on the second floor where we were going and then we thought…oh-la-la…this can’t be happening. I approached a person dressed in a Jules Verne uniform who told me that shortly everything would open back up. There was an unclaimed package which is always considered a bomb threat. The French take these VERY SERIOUSLY. It was freezing cold but we waited until the line started to move, and we were shortly inside the warm restaurant. It is a gastronomic experience with a breathtaking view. Don’t even begin to ask me the names of any of the food selections. We had the 7- course fixed menu with two “amuse bouche” which are ticklers for the mouth. The menu is on line if you want to look it up and try to make the connections. Oh, I forgot to mention that I left my phone on the charger in the apartment so was trying to use Andrew’s phone which kept defaulting to the passcode. It was a bit of a clown show for a while!
While all of this is going on, I’m stressing because our plan was to meet Pierre and Laurie at 4pm back in the Marais. Not having my own phone made it very difficult to use Bernie’s phone (which isn’t an iPhone) and try to contact them. I did my best with one text and one phone message saying we needed to amend to 5pm.
We literally ran back to the apartment so Bernie could get his winter jacket (which he stubbornly refused to wear over his suit coat) and to grab my phone. I left him in the apartment as I ran back to the subway by 5pm to meet Pierre & Laurie. Alas, they had gotten none of our messages and had waited in the cold for almost an hour. By this time, I was pretty much delirious with exhaustion and trying to apologize to them for the circumstances. The best I can say is that it’s one of our new Paris stories!
Our evening was lovely walking down Avenue Montaigne and Les Champs Elysées for what I think are the most beautiful Christmas decorations in Paris.
We stopped in at Plaza Athénée for a drink and then joined the boys for dinner at L’Avenue.
By the time we sat down for dinner, Bernie and I were still completely full from our wonderful lunch. I had soup and he had escargot. The best of the meal was dessert for Pierre and Laurie, Pavlova.
Well, to finish my Friday, the 13th saga, I’ll wrap up a very long blog post by saying that we slept this morning until 8:38am!! I was determined not to make P & L wait for us again. We made it in time and were off to another interesting day which I’ll post about in the morning.
Our goal for tonight is to try to enter Notre Dame about 8:30ish. Supposedly, people are getting in at that time without tickets. We shall see!
A bientôt
L&B
December 13, 2024 @ 3:49 pm
What a saga! You must have been worn out! I have my fingers crossed that you can get into Notre Dame this evening.
December 13, 2024 @ 4:31 pm
How lovely your photos are, in spite of a challenging day! The Christmas decorations are so beautiful. I hope you are fortunate enough to get into Notre Dame!
December 13, 2024 @ 4:32 pm
You are doing a very good job with your nighttime pictures. I bet you’d look swanky in that dress in the window.
Looks like quite a day.
Thank you
December 13, 2024 @ 4:34 pm
Merci, but they’re all taken on the run. It’s been frantic.
December 13, 2024 @ 4:44 pm
Linda,
I so hope you made it into Notre Dame this evening. I see that you and Bernie are still burning the candle at both ends when in Paris. I bet you are tired at the end of the day. Will there be a bit of time when it’s just you and Bernie? How long are you there?
Thanks for the saga of your time there. i look forward to your email every morning. And the pictures make my heart sing.
December 13, 2024 @ 4:50 pm
Yes, Bonnie, I believe this is all the company from out of town that we will have. So we’re got to very definitely ease up on the pace! I have invited a Paris friend to join us for Christmas lunch… which will come from the deli. I ordered a Buche de Noel from a patisserie.
December 13, 2024 @ 6:41 pm
Well, glad you got into the Eiffel Tower for lunch… How was the food?? The lights you captured were beautiful! I can’t imagine you running all over creation and not having good communication. That would indeed stress me out! Now I’m eager to hear if you got into Notre Dame!
December 13, 2024 @ 9:19 pm
I hope you were able to enter Notre Dame tonight!
December 14, 2024 @ 4:49 am
My goodness I’m exhausted just reading your post. You had a very fast paced, challenging yet lovely day. You all looked smashing! The food selections were works of art. I hope you get into Notre Dame!
Cindi