Brie, Cidre and the Two-Step!

Bonjour from Paree!!! It's 9:45am Friday 9/30 in Paris - sleeping like a rock. First night here we were so exhausted Ross said "Maybe we are too old for this" - Ha! We slept about 12 hours, woke up yesterday and I thought: Hell, the last two weeks would have tired out a 25 year old. We both felt great. Spotted this on a menu board yesterday - just for you Sara!!

So yesterday we took a nearly 9 hour boat cruise on the Seine then onto Marne River; called "Land of the Guinguettes" - they are former dance halls out in the country - there were hundreds in the 1700s-1900s where the "normal" aka middle class people went for the weekend to dance and swim in the nonpolluted river. Very interesting stories and haven't checked the website but will www.guinguette.org . On the boat were a group of seniors some of who had met their husbands in the dance halls, a group of mentally challenged 20-40 somethings with their staff - it was great to see them all dance to the "guinguette music" - and "It's Now or Never"! This is the accordian player chatting with the guide. It was not an expensive trip, we were the only Americans and there were only 6 English speakers (4 Danes who sat by us) - the guide made a point to tell us things now and then in his perfect English.

Dancing on the Marne! A lady from Belgium about my age asked me to dance (she is on the right in the black and white dress)- recall that I grew up dancing with aunts, grandmas, moms and dads at the country wedding dances. She could speak a little English and we could do the two-step together. Her husband was also delightful and smiley but neither spoke much English -

Lunch stop at Joinville le Pont - how fun it is to pull over to the side, put down the metal walkway and stroll the walk to lunch. (Danish lady behind us)

Frites, Brie, Heineken and Brittany cidre - mmmmmmmm good!

The banks of the Marne hold some beautiful property and it was a more than perfect day. Must say it got quite hot on the boat and everyone was sweating but better than an icestorm for sure.

I want this house and all of you could come and stay anytime - we could just hop on a little boat to Paris.

Maybe if you click on the picture it will enlarge. The guide told us that they often served rabbit at the guinguette dance halls - but there was such a demand they would substitute cat (that's why I had cheese for lunch:) - so the people would demand the head also show up on their plate BUT the heads were reused so it could be a rabbit head with cat bones!!!

I would be fine with this house also!

This is where we got on at Port d Arsenal - Paris - was easy to take the metro from our apartment.

Living room of our little apartment. It has everything we need in less than 200 square feet.

So ther stories: The boat guide asked me how we found this cruise - It was $80 for the two of us all day! - I said on the internet and he said they rarely have English speakers - Talking to the Dane lady she said they had seen the main sights of Paris and were "going deeper" - same as me. She was a bookbinder in Copenhagen (close to my age) and said historically Denmark asked Germans to come and work there as they were the highest skilled in crafts. Talked about salary, benefits, health insurance after she asked me. She was a smart lady and said they had sick leave but if it was a week the manager would call you in, if longer the next level up would - to find out what the problem was and what could be done about it and it discourages abuse.

There was an 88 year old Frenchman on the boat and I heard him talking to the Dane lady - about the French Prince (married to the Queen of Norway) and the economy - overheard: "We are depending on the Americans that they can run their financial market in the right way" - I did not ask her what she meant but I could put my interpretation on it:)

So must get on with our day as it is 10am - Au Revoir for now - only walkd 5.2 miles yesterday so I'm sure will be lots more today.