I have asked myself a few times, "Estelle, when will one of your postings actually be about NYC?" After all, look at the title of this site. The answer is, "I don't know." I simply know it will not be today. Also don't be too concerned that I am talking to myself :)
I'm so glad we bought this unlimited pass for the Paris Metro just so we could take a taxi to the restaurant for dinner. We are driving past the Convention Center when all of a sudden I shout out, "Oh, my gosh, look at that. Bunny rabbits". No, we have not arrived at our dinner destination. There is one big traffic convergence in front of the Convention Center and all the roads circle around this park. It looks to me that the bunny rabbits are happily stuck on this island park . I counted about 8 of them in a quick glance. I expect to see many things in Paris but bunny rabbits?
We drive past the Arc de Triumphe sans scaffolding, down the Champs d'Elysees and arrive at our dining destination. Lots of red, blue and green neon lights and a a few marble-esque dragons flanking the door outside. History is repeating itself. Oh, no. We are having Chinese food tonight. I look at Clyde as if to say, "There better be a good reason for this. We have lots of terrific Chinese restaurants in New York City so what gives?" But I trust him implicitly (see, Clyde now you have that statement in writing ...run with it : )
He opens the door for Mom and I to enter the restaurant (as any true gentleman would; I love that chivalry is not dead with everyone) and the next thing I know we are walking on fish. Let me put that another way. We are walking on an opaque floor and koi fish and turtles and tropical fish and all sorts of aquatic creatures are swimming beneath us. The entire floor, even the stairs of the multi-level Dragons Chinois restaurant have fish and such swimming beneath our feet. It's a restaurant aquarium! We have lots of photos of our feet and the fish swimming by whilst we're dining on wonton soup (which Mom said is some of the best she has ever had), spring rolls and dim sum dumplings and oh, wow, we have ordered too much food. We had duck and chicken dishes and well, doesn't it simply count as French food because we are in France?!
We take about 30 more pictures of the floor whilst opening our fortune cookies. We all have the same fortune so obviously there was a sale on the lucky numbers 3-32-41-7-9 and "You are loved by many". Exiting the restaurant, we all agree that it is way too beautiful an evening to pass up a stroll on the Champs d'Elysees so we do what millions of tourists have done before us and stroll. Parisians have strolling down to an art form. This city was made for the stroll. It's the Paris equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue...lots of people but somehow much more pleasant and strollable (if that's a word). We window shop, watch the people seated at the cafes watching us whilst smoking their cigarettes and having their after-dinner drinks, claw at the gates of the closed Cartier shop (let me in...let me in) and find a traffic median that is a semi-safe haven from the car traffic...and the perfect spot to get pictures of the Arc de Triumphe awash in its night illumination plus a little help from a full moon. We couldn't have planned this better if we had tried. Even Mother Nature is cooperating. After all, rain was forecast for the entire time we would be in Paris and yet somehow, thankfully, she changed her mind and has provided us with a perfect evening. Alone with my thoughts, granted in the midst of thousands of people, I find myself thinking, "Thank you." I never know exactly with whom I am speaking...God, divine power, people I knew who have passed on but there is definitely a conversation taking place. "Thank you for this night and the opportunity to experience all of this with people I love". I am crazy blessed and I am reminded of it in moments like this where I seem to be someplace between grateful and .... oncoming traffic.
"We're going to get run over just for a photo?" Evidently that's a possibility. One step to the right or left and truly, we are road kill. But the result are some pretty cool photos of us in front of the Arc d'Triumphe.
We continue our stroll. At this point, I think we are trying to walk off all the food we had at the restaurant plus no evening in Paris would be complete without dessert (the fortune cookies and sliced oranges did not count). Clyde also seems to be scoping out patisseries for his morning stroll which entails something about almondine croissants and chocolate brioches and all things decadent at 6a.m. He will not suffer from a lack of choices as there seems to be a patisserie on every other corner in Paris. I love sweets but at 6a.m.?! Unless they are being delivered to me in bed with a lovely cafe au lait, I'll wait until noon. Thanks.
"What's that over there?", I ask, as in the distance this staccato-like light show seems to be taking place on a tower. It looks like when the ball drops at NYC's Times Square on New Years' Eve. "That's the Eiffel Tower" doing its evening light show dance. Duh. I think I am so ossified by food that I forgot there is an Eiffel Tower in this city. I'm not sure if that light dance happens every hour on the hour at night but I am simply convinced it is saying hello just to us and welcoming us back. So far Day One is amazing. The weather is perfect, the night sightseeing is brilliant, I'm here with two of the people that I love the most, my Mom and my best friend Clyde and we're going to have creme brulee at the Cafe Clement in mere moments. Does life get any better than this? Actually, I can tell you, yes, it actually does. Wait until you find out what happens tomorrow.
I'm so glad we bought this unlimited pass for the Paris Metro just so we could take a taxi to the restaurant for dinner. We are driving past the Convention Center when all of a sudden I shout out, "Oh, my gosh, look at that. Bunny rabbits". No, we have not arrived at our dinner destination. There is one big traffic convergence in front of the Convention Center and all the roads circle around this park. It looks to me that the bunny rabbits are happily stuck on this island park . I counted about 8 of them in a quick glance. I expect to see many things in Paris but bunny rabbits?
We drive past the Arc de Triumphe sans scaffolding, down the Champs d'Elysees and arrive at our dining destination. Lots of red, blue and green neon lights and a a few marble-esque dragons flanking the door outside. History is repeating itself. Oh, no. We are having Chinese food tonight. I look at Clyde as if to say, "There better be a good reason for this. We have lots of terrific Chinese restaurants in New York City so what gives?" But I trust him implicitly (see, Clyde now you have that statement in writing ...run with it : )
He opens the door for Mom and I to enter the restaurant (as any true gentleman would; I love that chivalry is not dead with everyone) and the next thing I know we are walking on fish. Let me put that another way. We are walking on an opaque floor and koi fish and turtles and tropical fish and all sorts of aquatic creatures are swimming beneath us. The entire floor, even the stairs of the multi-level Dragons Chinois restaurant have fish and such swimming beneath our feet. It's a restaurant aquarium! We have lots of photos of our feet and the fish swimming by whilst we're dining on wonton soup (which Mom said is some of the best she has ever had), spring rolls and dim sum dumplings and oh, wow, we have ordered too much food. We had duck and chicken dishes and well, doesn't it simply count as French food because we are in France?!
We take about 30 more pictures of the floor whilst opening our fortune cookies. We all have the same fortune so obviously there was a sale on the lucky numbers 3-32-41-7-9 and "You are loved by many". Exiting the restaurant, we all agree that it is way too beautiful an evening to pass up a stroll on the Champs d'Elysees so we do what millions of tourists have done before us and stroll. Parisians have strolling down to an art form. This city was made for the stroll. It's the Paris equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue...lots of people but somehow much more pleasant and strollable (if that's a word). We window shop, watch the people seated at the cafes watching us whilst smoking their cigarettes and having their after-dinner drinks, claw at the gates of the closed Cartier shop (let me in...let me in) and find a traffic median that is a semi-safe haven from the car traffic...and the perfect spot to get pictures of the Arc de Triumphe awash in its night illumination plus a little help from a full moon. We couldn't have planned this better if we had tried. Even Mother Nature is cooperating. After all, rain was forecast for the entire time we would be in Paris and yet somehow, thankfully, she changed her mind and has provided us with a perfect evening. Alone with my thoughts, granted in the midst of thousands of people, I find myself thinking, "Thank you." I never know exactly with whom I am speaking...God, divine power, people I knew who have passed on but there is definitely a conversation taking place. "Thank you for this night and the opportunity to experience all of this with people I love". I am crazy blessed and I am reminded of it in moments like this where I seem to be someplace between grateful and .... oncoming traffic.
"We're going to get run over just for a photo?" Evidently that's a possibility. One step to the right or left and truly, we are road kill. But the result are some pretty cool photos of us in front of the Arc d'Triumphe.
We continue our stroll. At this point, I think we are trying to walk off all the food we had at the restaurant plus no evening in Paris would be complete without dessert (the fortune cookies and sliced oranges did not count). Clyde also seems to be scoping out patisseries for his morning stroll which entails something about almondine croissants and chocolate brioches and all things decadent at 6a.m. He will not suffer from a lack of choices as there seems to be a patisserie on every other corner in Paris. I love sweets but at 6a.m.?! Unless they are being delivered to me in bed with a lovely cafe au lait, I'll wait until noon. Thanks.
"What's that over there?", I ask, as in the distance this staccato-like light show seems to be taking place on a tower. It looks like when the ball drops at NYC's Times Square on New Years' Eve. "That's the Eiffel Tower" doing its evening light show dance. Duh. I think I am so ossified by food that I forgot there is an Eiffel Tower in this city. I'm not sure if that light dance happens every hour on the hour at night but I am simply convinced it is saying hello just to us and welcoming us back. So far Day One is amazing. The weather is perfect, the night sightseeing is brilliant, I'm here with two of the people that I love the most, my Mom and my best friend Clyde and we're going to have creme brulee at the Cafe Clement in mere moments. Does life get any better than this? Actually, I can tell you, yes, it actually does. Wait until you find out what happens tomorrow.
Love the pics of Iceland! -Bracy Richard Neal
ReplyDeleteThanks Bracy...I have to admit from the warm, cozy comfort of my living room, I like looking at them again too. - ETC
ReplyDelete