The train, the roses and the marriage proposal!

Marta and Nancy had a dream......ride the train from Barcelona to Paris. Nancy had travelled 'everywhere' in her youth by train and she very much want to relive the experience and share it with her best friend Marta. So on Thursday we climbed aboard a very modern and lovely train to travel for just under 8 hours to Paris. The first half of the trip was pretty uneventful except for Marta getting the zipper on her purse stuck with her passport in the pocket. Once that panic was over it was pretty calm until the border where we had to change trains. I'm not exactly sure what made the difference but the French train was entirely different. Maybe it was the bar car???

We were fortunate enough to be seated in a four person group with a table in the middle on this train and immediately broke out our lunch of fruits, cheeses, meats and bread left over from the night before and a 'brand new bottle of wine'. It was the perfect train lunch and we were the envy of most of those around us. After lunch the fourth seat in our group was filled by a very pleasant French woman by the name of Liz with very little English. Nancy struggled to remember every word of French she had ever known so that she could ask the woman everything about Paris she could possibly think of.   Liz was extremely patient but I noticed that late in the trip she started to spend a lot of time on her cell phone in the bar car!!

Of course no train ride would be complete without a game of cards and ours was the perfect game of cards. Very competitive but we didn't keep score........that way we all thought we were the winner, I think we all were!

Once we arrived in Paris we were greated with a taxi line that was about an hour long that didn't dampen our spirits in the least. The taxi driver knew our hotel and the ride was a breeze. We are staying in the Monmartre section about a block from the Moulin Rouge. Both Nancy and I had stayed in this neighborhood the last time we were in Paris but for both of us that had been quite some time ago and the area has changed a bit.

It has a very active nightlife and more sex shops than we will ever be able to shop in. This is mainly because everytime we go in one we laugh so much it takes us forever and then we leave without any purchases!! hahaha

Dinner of course had to be on the sidewalk of one of the many small cafes. There were lots to choose from and we just finally said here. The food was nothing special but the sideway activity ws great and our server playful. Then just to keep it interesting a 'Bob Marley Tribute Concert' let out up the street and all the concert goes came streaming by. At the table next to us a Parisan couple and a well dressed black man sat down. Before long we were talking with them and the whole sidewalk along with the complete wait staff were hanging around and joining in the fun. The black guy was a wheeler, dealer type and things got lively. He then said he had to buy roses for the women because the restaurant manger wanted to marry me but was too shy to ask..........and so the picture above with our roses.

We closed up the place and as we were preparing to leave the manager found a 'forgotten' umbrella that he gave to me and finally getting up his nerve I guess said, 'come back tomorrow and we can get married then'!! My first Paris wedding proposal.......there will be more!