Paris

Better sleep last night which is a good thing as we have a full day on the road to return to Paris.
3 comfort stops along the way but nothing noteworthy for photos to share. Mind you, at the first stop J and I had a coffee. I went to use the ladies bathroom in the store when I man walked out. I’ve looked him up and down to see if he is registering any embarrassment when a second man walks out. I do a double take to make the person picture on the entry door is wearing a dress, confirm it is, and go in. As I come out of the stall there is a man drying his hands at the air dryer. Thankfully two other women come into the bathroom as I leave. I’m beginning to think I am now cursed with using poorly designed unisex toilets, but then see the sign (in French) on the men’s bathroom door saying something along the lines that they are closed and to use the toilets opposite!
Then while I as waiting for J I am browsing at a display stand of books, and the ones I am looking at happen to be cookbooks. What takes my eye is one that is all about ‘hot dogs’. I was intrigued at how there could be an entire recipe range for cooking hot dogs, so even though it is in Frech I decide to flick through it. conincidentally at this exact moment, Betty has come alongside me and there on the page I open the cook book to is a full colour page of what could only be described as something that one might more likely see in a sex shop, but I’m not sure what section it would be in. Betty and I lost it! What you need to do is imagine a large green zucchini that has had both ends cut off so that it is about 6 inches long. Hollow out that same zucchini length and then shove a hot dog sausage that is about 8 inches long firmly through the centre of the zucchini, so that about 1 inch of sausage protrudes at either end. OMG I kick myself that I didn’t take a photo of it. As soon as J and David joined us we had to share the photo and they agreed that it was hilarious. Apparently you can get a job purely as a food photographer. Whoever staged that image needs to have police checks done on them!!!
Anyway, that was our fun and excitement for the day.
We arrived in Paris about 4ish. Stopped near Napolean’s tomb for our tour group photo and then finally to our hotel where we have less than an hour to head out for our final group dinner together.
It’s currently 11pm and I’m dead on my feet so you will have to come back later for photos taken this evening, but I can post a few that were taken from our coach as we came into Paris.

The last photo, we had 5 minutes off the coach to get our Eiffel Tower snap.
Okay, I’m back again...
Our farewell dinner was at a very well known and popular restaurant La Coupole. Apparently it was THE place to be in the 20s and 30s. Hemingway dined here and others of that era and ilk. I was very disappointed with the meal as I could see what other dinners were being served, and our two option set course menu paled in significance. I had a pea soup starter which I expected to be hot, but it was cold. Tasted okay but I was really looking forward to hot soup. Main was veal and a vegetable stack. The meat was very fatty and therefore a bit sickly. Dessert was a lemon meringue pie that I scraped the soft meringue off of, couldn’t break through the pastry with my spoon so scooped half the filling out and then gave up. very disappointing, but made up for by the good company of Betty, David and Kee.

At this point I need to advise that I would have lost the bet re Henry’s attire as this is now his second day in black, thin velour elastic waisted track pants that he tucks the same grey t shirt into and then the lemon zip jacket over the top. Out in the sun he wears a khaki canvas round brimmed floppy hat with the under neck tie. Give me strength! (Also, if you have nothing better to do with your time while you wait for me to load more photos to the blog, you can look him up on google - Henry Rack of Clemson University and then read his student’s feedback on him. Not a single positive comment, so it isn’t just me!)
But enough on him. Ramzi took us on a night tour of the city where I tried my best to get some decent photos for you.


Last day of our tour tomorrow and I will be very sad to lose Laura as our tour guide as she is simply fabulous at her job, and appreciates my humour! In fact, she probably would make a very good princess!
Ramzi is delightful too and the way he has manoeuvred that big bus through winding country roads and then full on chaotic Paris traffic truly is driving brilliance.

It’s been a great ‘Country Roads of France’ tour that I highly recommend to you. We’ve been especially spoilt by the weather too.