Sunday, June 14, 2009

The first 4 hours in Paris

Our train left Rodez at 11:45 this morning.  We dropped the dogs off with S&S at 10:00 am.  We feel so comfortable leaving them with S&S, no worries.  I also had a chance to see Fanny (my hen) who now lives with them.  She's doing great and it makes me so happy.

The train took about 7 hours and it was great...no stress.  No need to drive the car and find parking here in paris.  We listened to music, I did my french homework and Bruce drew.  Nice ride up to Paris.

We arrived at 7 pm and took a taxi to the hotel.  We are staying in the 11th at the grand hotel francais.  It's lovely and clean and modern, a great choice.  We showered and then went out to dinner around 8:00 pm.  We walked around and found a cute bistro called "les funamuble" which means "tightrope walker" in french.   We sat outside as it was a beautiful warm evening. I ordered the poulet with riz de coco and Bruce had the entrecote with fries and of course we had some Gaillac vin de rouge and an amazing dessert that was a mi-cuite chocolate, yummy.  Next to us was a couple about our age and they had their daughter with them.  5 minutes after we sat down we started talking with them and continued to for 2 hours.  They were lovely and when they left both of us said "those are 2 people we'd love to hang out with".   We finished our meal and asked for the check.  The waiter informed us that the couple paid for our dinner!  Seriously, they bought our dinner for us!  How unbelievable is that.  We spoke with the waiter and he said they just live around the corner, come in all the time and he knows them very well, so Bruce left them a note giving them our cell phone and email.  We told them we'd love to get together again before we leave on Friday and we thanked them for the meal...telling them it was very classy to do that!  

So, that's it.  Our first 4 hours in france and we met a lovely french couple who bought us dinner.  Don't tell me that the french are not friendly...they are wonderful people when you open up and speak to them.  

We are both very excited to be here until Friday.  I think we both needed this.  I'll get a chance to meet Leesa and Barbara on Tuesday and my sister comes in on Wednesday with her students from her school and also my brothers niece is with my sister as well.  It will be such a fun time. We'll take loads of pictures and update each day.  Sorry that I don't have any pictures yet...stay tuned.

9 comments:

Lesley said...

What a great story! What lovely people!

softinthehead said...

WOW what a lovely thing to happen. What a nice way to begin your week in Paris, I 'm very envious - enjoy and I will look forward to all the photos. :)

La Framéricaine said...

Congratulations on a week well started!

It does not surprise me one single bit that your co-diners were so gracious as to treat you to dinner after your lovely evening of conversation together. I do so hope that you will have occasion to return the graciousness one day soon.

Have a wonderful stay in Paris. I envy you the opportunity and the stress-free way in which you made your way to the city!

CS said...

What a wonderful post! I too am not surprised by the French couple's lovely gesture (my experience has also been that the French are wonderful), but what a fabulous gift they gave you on your arrival in Paris.

I enjoy your blog and am so jealous you're about to get together with Leesa and Barbara (which I also read about on Barbara's blog). I met Leesa there recently but have to wait until next time to see Barbara.

Enjoy!

Cheers from Sydney (and sometimes Paris),
Carolyn

Megan said...

Sounds like a good time. I have only been to Paris once- that is where we got engaged. ;)

islandgirl4ever2 said...

That's a lovely story! I think that there are some very wonderful people around that really make your day! What a nice couple! I hope that you get back in contact with them and even get to see them again while you're in Paris!
How about that RAIN early this morning?! Not sure what the forecast is for today but it's already pretty warm outside now... I feel like I"m in Hawaii. LOVE this tropical feel.
Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.
Take care and have a wonderful day!
Leesa

Ksam said...

Aw, that is a great story (and what a fabulous memory to have).

And I don't know why people always say the Parisians are rude - I've found them to be nothing but friendly and helpful!

Veronica said...

How lovely! That happened to us once too -- we got chatting to a couple of cheminots in our local pizzeria, shared a table, had a fun evening, and they paid for the meal. "You can pay next time," they said as they left, but of course we've never seen them again since they were just passing through. It summed up one of the things we love about living here (south of France, not Paris) -- chance encounters, and the openness of people.

Barbara said...

That was soo charming to meet that nice couple and have them treat you !
Cool !!
Now you have made friends also, and you have nice people to see the next tiùe in town.