Really?
The
hotel we are staying at is very small, as many are in Paris. There are only 5
rooms on each floor. The lift
(elevator) can hold 2 people, just barely, and is surrounded by a circular
stairs. It's quite an efficient
use of space. Yesterday… it broke. We are on the 5th floor, except
in Paris you enter many buildings on floor 0. Looks like we might not gain any
weight here after all. It’s the
most fun in the late afternoon when the maid is finishing up her duties and she
sends full bags of dirty laundry careening down them without warning. Apparently dodge ball is included for
free with the hotel charges. It
helps take your mind off the fact that you can’t catch your breath from climbing so many stairs. It’s
supposed to be fixed tomorrow.
Anyone want to take bets?
Mashed Potatoes
There's a great bistro just across the corner from our hotel. We’ve been having
our breakfast there and stopping in for an afternoon drink so Bill can watch
the soccer games with the locals. Yesterday we decided to have our dinner there.
Bill ordered the steak frites, steak with fries, so Parisian. Until, he asked
if they could substitute mashed potatoes for the fries. The waiter gave him the
strangest look. Bill… we're in
Paris… at a bistro… not at Cracker Barrel in Dayton, Ohio.
Love Locks
I don’t
remember this from my visit to Paris several years ago. One of the bridges is
completely covered on its railings with padlocks. They call them “love
locks”. You and your sweetheart write
your initials on a lock and then
lock it onto the bridge. You are, after all, in Paris, the city of love. The effect created by the gold and silver of the
locks is quite beautiful in the sunlight. What do you think, is there a guy sitting around somewhere with a big pair of wire cutters making a few bucks from those unlucky in love?
The Young Lady
As
we were leaving the “Love Lock” bridge a young woman in front of us bent down
and picked up a wide gold wedding band that she found. She showed it to us to see if we could
read any name engraved on the inside. There was none. She told Bill to try it
on. It fit him. She told us to keep it. It was good luck. We were married and
she was not. She turned around and walked away. Bill was holding the ring. We
looked at each other and expressed how sad it was that someone lost their
wedding band. Bill said, “I don’t want this. What do we do with it?” The young
woman came back to Bill and said, “Sir, could you spare some change for lunch,
in exchange for the ring?” Bill was
reaching into his pocket and suddenly the light bulb went on for me. I took the
ring and set it on the railing of the bridge and said, “I don’t think so.” It
was a clever scam, I give you something that I found and then you feel
obligated to give me a few bucks in exchange. Bill looked at me and said, “Hey, I’m the New Yorker. How
did I not see that one coming?”
