French Hospitatlity

I'm sure y'all have been sitting on pins and needles wondering what we did Sunday and Monday. Good news. The wait is over.

On Sunday morning we woke up and went for a jog around the Lourve's gardens. The temperature was perfect, but a little windy. It was so weird to be running around statues that were sculpted in the 1600's while listening to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on the Ipod. After a few too many "dust storms" we went back to the hotel gym and finished our workout.

We decided to lay low since almost everything is closed on Sunday. We watched National Lampoon's European Vacation and belly laughed because it's pretty much the exact way James and I have gotten around Europe these past two weeks!! If you youtube the restaurant scene where the Griswald's are having lunch in Paris, that's exactly how James talks to all our waiters and it brings me so much joy to listen to him.

After the movie, we packed up all our dirty clothes and headed for the laundry mat. It took us about four hours to do our laundry because we had to figure out the washers, go buy soap, eat lunch, figure out the dryers, eat ice cream, fold our clothes, buy snacks for the room (after James ate an 8€ can of Pringles from the mini-bar because he was STARVING)  and drink coffee. Sheew!

Sunday evening we went to a really upscale restaurant called the Royal Madeline and finally received the traditional "hospitality" the French are known for. Let me make it very clear, our waiter was a Grade A Jerk!!! We waited at least 30 minutes before Pepe (I can't remember his real name.) came by to ask us about drinks, he laughed at anything we thought about ordering (because he didn't think we'd like it...stupid Americans), and then he left us waiting for our bill for another half hour. It was the most expensive meal and worst service we've had since arriving in Paris.

When we asked for wine suggestions, Pepe went so far as to ask for our price range and then say, "No! We have no bottles of wine for under 60€!!" Um...I ’m sorry. Can you repeat that? Because I couldn’t hear you over the sound of me biting tongue to keep me from giving you an American AM tongue lashing.

Instead I said, “Fine!! Give me the 5€ glass of white wine then!” As I talked myself down from the ledge, I thought about the sweet South  where waiters bring out what you want and work for a tip.

Instead, Pepe ruined my evening by causing James to say stuff like socialism, guaranteed tipping, little pansy's who let people just take over your country, and all Parisians are now dead to me.

As a result, we went to the market and loaded up on cheeses, bread, water and wine. Apparently we were never dining out in Paris again (or we were getting ready for Y2K, Chris Dodd style).

I'm happy to report that all was forgiven on Monday after a nice lunch, a good waiter and a fantastic crepe at a cafe on Rue de Scribe.

After lunch we walked to Montmartre (I keep calling it Marky Mark) which is a haven for local artists. We bought two sketchings for the dining room, a few of souvenirs for the family,  toured a cathedral called Basilique Du Sacre-Coeur that rivaled Notre Dame, and walked up and down at least 40 flights of stairs. Every time we'd get to a landing of stairs James would do the Rocky victory dance and I'd cry.

Since we had to leave for Normandy by 6:30 on Tuesday morning, we decided to do dinner at American time. We made good use of our market purchases and just had fresh french bread (that may have added another two pounds on my hips), cheese, wine and chocolate.

Today we went to Normandy and yall...it was life changing. I need a day to process what I saw. My grandfather really was a part of the greatest generation. More tomorrow.

Much love and very humbled,

The Barnett's