French Letter

We arrived yesterday and all we managed to do was stroll up to the Eiffel Tower.  We were docked very close to it.  You now have to go thru, like, airport security before you can enter the immediate environs, although it’s difficult to imagine what you could bring in on your person that could damage the gigantic structure. But access is still free.

Last night three beautiful and enthusiastic singers came on board and regaled us with operatic arias and French chansons— and at 11PM, we went to the terrace in the bow where we could see the iconic tower, which lights up every hour on the hour with thousands of twinkling lights.  It’s always, like, floodlit, but this interior illumination is intermittent and as you can imagine, spectacular.

Today it wasn’t rainy, though chilly.  We went to Jardin Des  Tuilleries to see the Christmas market, which is….I don’t wanna say tacky, but let’s just say it doesn’t really have much on the West End Fair.  C’est pour les enfants!  We rode the huge Ferris wheel at the end of the Tuilleries, panoramic views of Paris.  Then we walked down to the old site of Les Halles to eat at our favorite restaurant in the world, Au Pied de Cochon. Then we hiked to Arc de  Triomphe, then ubered back to our boat. Great dinner tonight, fortunately settled near some compatible people for dinner.  Then afterward, a French cheese tasting, with Port and Calvados.🥴

Our boat, the Viking  Radgrid, cast off from Pont Grenelle in  Paris at 6:15, and we sat in our incredibly wonderful suite at the stern and watched the Eiffel Tower and the other lights of Paris receding. I cried.  I can’t believe we’re here! There was a time ‘long about March 2020 when I thought I’d never see Paris again.

One of my favorite things about these boats is falling asleep watching the lights of the shore slide by…but already, just 4 hours on the Seine, it looks pretty dark and rural out there. Still I’ll keep the curtains open.

Skip just told me he ordered our breakfast for tomorrow: Eggs Benedict!  In bed!  Could Heaven improve on this?

À demain, mes amis!