Bateau-Birthday

Last night I received a phone call from my workmate, Stephane. Stephane lives in the next town over and we'd talked about sharing rides into work. So when he asked for a favor, I said "sure, I can give you a ride tomorrow" without asking for details.

He paused and said, "Can you also take my refrigerator?"

Stephane is the aforementioned collegue with a new apartment and "American kitchen". He bought a used refrigerator from a guy at work and it wouldn't fit in his Jetta. So after work today we met in the parking lot and crammed a refrigerator into the back of my rental Fiesta. This says a lot about both French cars and French refrigerators.

After that adventure, I met Dave at the apartment and we headed into Paris for my birthday present: a Bateau-Mouche dinner cruise.

I've had this silly tourist-desire to ride a Bateau-Mouche since the first time I visited Paris. And my first trip was in style. We had a really nice dinner as the boat cruised up and down the Seine. Our table was right next to the musicians, a pianist and a violinist, who gratefully smiled and said "merci beaucoup" when we clapped (is it unusual to clap during dinner music?).

After the meal, upon suggestion from the waitress, we climbed upstairs to ride the top of the boat. We had the whole top to ourselves, and we had a great time running back and forth, taking photos, and trying to touch the underside of bridges.

It was a lovely birthday, but I could have done without the refrigerator.