Today is our 35th wedding anniversary! We have reservations at the renown restaurant, Jules Verne, in the Eiffel Tower at 1:00. We can’t wait. We both bought nice new outfits for the occasion. Fortunately we hit Nordstrom during one of their sales so it only cost us an arm and a leg. I found some shoes that I wore in my business days–cute patent leather flats. They are perfect with my new Eileen Fisher dress. It’s a beautiful day–sunny and no rain in sight. We take our time getting dressed up and we look very elegant, I must say.
Our taxi driver is very entertaining. He tells us Eddie Murphy is his cousin (I think he was pulling our leg) and asks us questions about US states vs. cities. And then starts to joke about Sara Palin. We say she’s a joke to us too.
He drops us off in front of the Eiffel Tower but we see that we cannot actually walk under the Tower to get to the elevator for the restaurant; there are barricades all over. So we start to walk around the Tower but we keep encountering barricades between us and where we want to go.
At some point along the way, I notice one of my shoes is feeling quite loose. I look down and my cute, OLD shoes are falling apart! The soles and heels are disintegrating–big pieces are falling off.
One heel is entirely gone. Every step I take leaves behind more of the shoes. I cannot believe this! I realize that by the time we arrive at the restaurant, I will be standing in my bare feet.
We approach the entrance to the elevator but a policeman is stopping us from going forward. He is yelling at me to move across the street. I finally am able to say in French that we have reservations! He directs us to what looks like the employees elevator where LOTS of people in uniform are standing around. Finally we are able to find someone who speaks English. And he tells us:
At 9:00am a man (other accounts said 3 men) with an oversized backpack was seen climbing up the Eiffel Tower. Security immediately shut the Tower down and put up barricades. They were concerned he was either a terrorist or a base jumper. So there we stood for about an hour. Someone had pizzas delivered to the employees while they waited. When the barricades finally came down, Howard walked and I shuffled over to the elevator. Within a short time the restaurant manager came over and said they would not be serving food for a long while. They had not had time to prep the food before they were told to evacuate. He said they would call us and reschedule our meal.
Of course we were disappointed but I was a bit relieved. I had visions of the maitre d’ saying “Madame, I believe you’ve left something behind you on the floor…” So we hailed a cab and back to the apartment we went. Now the challenge was to find a restaurant so late in the afternoon. And of course to change clothes AND SHOES.
One of the apartment guests had left business card for a nearby restaurant. We checked the map and it was close by so off we went to find it. When we found the place, we were happily surprised to see that a Greek restaurant we loved in past visits to Paris was just across the street. In fact we had taken the dogs there more than once. It was closed so we vowed to go back another time. The recommended restaurant took us in as the last customers for the afternoon and they gave us a charming little table at the window. Great for people watching.
The server was very nice and helpful. We both ordered oysters to start. And they were delicious! Howard ordered duck breast with risotto and I had pasta with shrimp. Our server recommended a Saint-Joseph wine, from the Rhone region of France made with the Syrah grape. It was perfect and it is one of my favorite wines. For dessert we had a chestnut parfait: chestnut paste, chocolate, merengue and whipped creme. Yum! We were entertained during dinner by a cute bat-eared French bulldog at the table next to us.
So our anniversary dinner was saved! We had a wonderful time and our dinner cost ($175) probably 25% of what our Jules Verne meal would have cost. Besides, I need to save money to buy another pair of shoes!!!