Another 4th of October

The 4th of October 20 years ago was a Wednesday, and I went to a Premiair A/S staff party in Copenhagen. It was supposed to be for our employees only, and there was hundreds of people. One person there managed to stand out though - an English-speaking pilot, from NZ it turned out. This was odd as there were no foreign pilots in our company, but he had been brought along by one of my colleagues. We ended up talking for a bit, he was super good looking and really charming, but that was it. Nothing happened.
I know this was the 4th of October exactly, because even well before I wrote this blog (which is now going on its 14th year!)...

... I wrote another kind of diary!

I guess I have always wanted to record and remember, write my stories down, sometimes in full, sometimes just small details. I'm a historian at heart, and a nostalgic one of those.
And look - the "Sterling pilot" made the story of that 4th of October, here's proof! Even though it took another few months before we had our first date and started seeing each other more seriously, that 4th of October kind of is the start of our story.

So, of course, it needed to be celebrated!
I took Nathan to one of the restaurants I have been wanting to try since it opened, the fancy Fouquet's at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

 

We started with a drink in the Marta bar: 

We were seated outside, and even though it was warm, there was a nice breeze. First outdoor dinner of the season, just that is special!

This classic Parisian brasserie has a menu created by French Michelin star Chef Pierre Gagnaire. The food was indeed excellent, we tried a little bit of everything as we had a three course meal and didn't chose any of the same dishes. Everything from the tuna tartare and the fois gras to the crêpes suzette; all paired with wine as advised by the in-house sommelier.

We had a really lovely time, all on our own on the outside terrace. Unfortunately, due to the current times, and it being a weekday, it wasn't very busy at all in the restaurant, so the buzz and the atmosphere was lacking a bit but the dome of the Louvre Abu Dhabi never fails to impress. So beautiful...

And - being the nostalgic that I am, I had actually saved the dress I was wearing that night back in 2000! I dug it out to try it on for a giggle, but realising that it still worked (being stretchy and all that!) I decided to recreate the look from that night! (The net stockings should probably have stayed in the year 2000 though... ha ha!)

So nearly forgot!

This morning as I was sat beside our Christmas tree reminiscing about where I bought all our baubles, ornaments and decorations; I suddenly remembered that the kids and I did buy some new ones in Paris last February as well! Where were they??! Ummm...

I started rummaging around in my cupboards, and found the Paris ones, together with a few other new ones I had forgot that I had bought this year! Duh!
So now they are finally all on the tree, ready to soon be packed away with the other ornaments so that at least they can get some more tree-time next year!

The Paris ones: a Santa on the Eiffel Tower and a rose window from the Notre Dame Cathedral:

The Denmark ones: a classic glass 'Dannebrog' bauble and a handmade The Little Mermaid clay ornament:

And finally, from Scotland, a cute royal corgi dog that we bought on our visit to the Balmoral Castle at Easter:

I wonder if I have any more forgotten ornaments stashed away anywhere..??

Souvenirs from Paris

Yes, Linnea did buy a few keyrings and a mini golden statue of the Eiffel Tower for her to keep in her room; and even though the rest of the souvenirs had the same motif, they weren't as tacky:
A LEGO Architecture Eiffel Tower that we bought as a present for Daddy; two Xmas tree ornaments (as per tradition on our travels), the one to the left being one of the rose windows from the Notre Dame cathedral, and a pair of small Eiffel Tower silver studs.

Good little travelers

Took this photo of Lucas during the flight back from Paris. Both the kids are super seasoned plane passengers (this was Linnea's 189th flight and Lucas' 217th!) and they know the drill inside out.

It still warms my heart though, observing them going through their own routines as soon as we get on board, watching them get sorted and comfortable.
I love seeing them fold out the menu and have a chat with the stewardess when she comes to take their order. This time Lucas ordered the sea bass, with all his best manners. The stewardess looked puzzled and asked "You do know it's fish..?" Ha ha, apparently not many kids would pick the fish over steak or sandwiches.
It warms my heart when they fold out the napkins across their lap, and sit back and settle in and truly enjoy their dinner while watching a movie.

Good little travelers.

Favourite shot

This is by far my favourite photo from our Paris trip. Walking down the Champs-Elysées in the rain, having a chat under the umbrella. A rare peaceful moment between the two...
I think I will print out and frame this one..! ❤️

Paris - Day 4

Monday was our last day in Paris and even though we were flying out in the evening, it didn't slow us down. We checked out in the morning and left our luggage in the hotel, and off we went for our last adventures. It was still chilly, but at least it was a dry day, so it made for a welcomed change!
We started our day with toast and hot chocolate in a nearby coffee shop.

This is the most narrow street in Paris at just 1,8m wide, Rue du Chat qui Pêche, which was located not far from our hotel.

Pont Notre Dame and the Conciergerie, as seen from Pont d'Arcole:

For our last stroll, I took the kids to another favourite part of Paris, Le Marais. It's filled with beautiful houses, little galleries, cool shops and an ethnic mix of Jews, Asians and others which creates an exciting atmosphere.

In the sun at Place des Vosges, in the heart of Paris. Considered one of the most beautiful squares in the world, as it's perfectly symmetrical - it has 36 houses, 9 on each side, made out of brick and stone.

For our last lunch we chose a local bistro, and I made the kids try 'steak haché', while I had a delicious quiche with chèvre and tomato.

After lunch we went to Jardin des Plantes and one of the oldest Zoological Parks in the world, Le Ménagerie. It specializes in small mammals, insects, birds, primates and reptiles.

It's very pretty, lovely surroundings. It was set up during the Revolution to house survivors from the Royal menagerie at Versailles; and it also welcomed animals that came from circuses, and exotic creatures sent from abroad.

This was my favourite part, inside the vivarium:

 The flamingos here were extremely red!

There was many animals I had never seen before. Like this strange looking "thing", an Axolotl..? Some kind of salamander amphibian?

The wallabies were very cute, and we could see that some of them even had little babies in their pouches!

The visit to the zoo rounded off our Paris trip for this time.
Back to the airport and back to Abu Dhabi. It was actually quite nice to leave the cold and get back to somewhat (for the moment) more comfortable temperatures, and not feel like you were going on a polar expedition every time you went out the door!

Next time we shall come in warmer weather, but Paris... aahhh, you were still amazing... Thank you! ❤️