I'm in some trouble apparently. My buddies feel that I've set the bar for wives surprise birthdays a little too high. Ok, fair enough. But put it in context boys, I've bought Jo flowers maybe 3 times in the last 22 years, we don't usually do anything for birthdays, anniversaries or even Christmas (actually she usually gets me something and I just suck). So the scales were waaaay out of balance. Anyway guys, suck it up.
So about 3 weeks ago I was trying to work out what I was going to do for Jo's 40th. We had chatted and thought that a party in the backyard would be good, maybe we would get it catered. Of course me being in Madrid for 3 out of every 4 weeks makes life interesting, but we figured that maybe we would push the date out a little and hold something at home in early July when I was due back in Oakville. I was speaking with Jay and AJ one evening in Madrid and they suggested something a little grander. Fly her to Paris, meet her there and have a quick and dirty weekend without the kids. Sold.
I told Jasmine as I needed to work out where the kids were going to go and she didn't let me down, keeping the secret perfectly. Our great friends and neighbours, the Emersons, Davis's and Shafers took on the task of looking after the 3 kids and I booked the flights and an apartment. Jo was soooo busy with the school end-of-year fund-raiser, and tennis of course, that I had to tell her 36 hours before she was due to fly as I had to rely on her to pack for the kids as well as herself. She left TO on Thursday night and I left Madrid the next morning around 8am. Our flights arrived at exactly the same time and I had to hump to her terminal to meet her(aint it always the way, the two terminals were as far apart as they could be). As it was it worked out perfectly and we met each other right as Jo emerged from Customs.
The traffic from Charles De Gaulle to downtown was jammed and it took an hour to get to the apartment. But we set out on a great walk, taking us from our place in Montmartre (the highest point in Paris and home to the
Basilique Sacre Coeur) down to close to the Sienne and
Aux Lyonnais for lunch. The fixed menu, as recommended by Jay, was outstanding and we ordered one of each of the choices. I ate a huge slab of blood pudding with caramelised apples.
Jo's had a fluffy cheese-like souffle, the surroundings were classy and the staff were highly amused at my poor attempts to speak French. But as we quickly found out everyone we spoke to had a good grasp of english anyway. The wine cost a bomb and was worth it! We didn't finish it over lunch and you'll see the remaining third of the bottle turning up in a few photos as we carried it around Paris :-), like here -
After lunch we staggered down the tight lanes to the Sienne and Notre Dame. At this point Jo had been going for about 26hrs with 2hrs sleep so we caught a cab back to the apartment and she napped while I went out for supplies. We ate dinner on the street even though it was getting a little cold after the sun went down. Good food again of course, cheaper wine thank god, and a waiter whose attitude seemed to get worse as the night went on. I swear I have no idea what I did to piss him off, but he started out nice and ended up a prick. It's times like this that I like the North American tipping system... with no tipping I had no way to effectively retaliate other than being rude while he was around which was fun but not as much fun as hitting his back pocket [sigh].
The next day started out nice and turned into showers, but it didn't stop us hitting the Metro and discovering the pastry and chocolate nirvana's that Jay had directed us to, Pierre Hermes and Gerard Mulot. Shops of cakes and candies that look more like jewelery stores. We also hit the Musee d'Orsay for some culture and eventually found our way to the Eiffel Tower which is more impressive than I thought it would be from close up. We didn't go up as the weather was still overcast and cold. After spending 2 hours shopping for gifts for the kids we had a quiet evening in our apartment, kept company by champagne and eat-in food.
As we got to the airport the next day I had a brain-fart by thinking that I'd left Jo's passport in the apartment, surely meaning she'd miss her flight, but it turned up in her luggage. I just like to freak us both out on occassion, aint I bunches of fun? We had a fun weekend, just enough taste of Paris to know we want to come back with the kids, and hopefully we will in late summer. If you go there you should do yourself a favour and try the macaroons at Pierre Hermes, they taste as good as they cost.
Andy, out.
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