On a rare spontaneous moment, we decide to spend a day in Paris. We take the 7.00am Eurostar from St Pancras to the Gare du Nord. Arriving at 10.30am, we are in great need of coffee and take a taxi straight to Cafe Marly. What better view than the Louvre Pyramid and the Tuileries? Once we have refueled, we stroll along the Seine and take in the whole city. Such a beautiful city. We head for Avenue Montaigne and some serious shopping.
We walk into an iconic hotel and admire the decor, wander towards the interior courtyard to scope the restaurant crowd and menu....a bit stuffy and intimidating so we walk back towards the more posh & trendy terrace restaurant. A lovely hostess takes us from the hotel lobby to the terrace and hands us over to her colleague.
Me: Deux personnes, s'il vous plait.
Hostess: Avez-vous une reservation?
Me: Non.
Hostess: D'accord (and motions for us to follow her).
We are seated at a cute table for two under the beautiful red awnings. It's quite sunny and warm and there is mist occasionally showering the hedges and the air around us for soothing comfort. We order amazing pink champagne and nice salads which fill us up for an afternoon of more shopping.
About 10 minutes later, many people arrive...a gorgeous couple, a beautiful family of 3, a large group of fashionistas, and an individual man sits in the corner table eating, drinking and smoking like it was going out of style. Is he a designer whom I should know?
All the tables fill up except one behind us. A young couple walk up and the woman, dressed in a baby blue playsuit, smiles but says nothing to the hostess. Her boyfriend or husband, dressed in shorts and a golf shirt, stands behind her for support.
Hostess: Would you like a table for two?
Baby blue playsuit: (nods) Yes.
Hostess: Do you have a room in the hotel?
Baby blue playsuit: (shakes her head) No.
Hostess: Oh, I am so sorry...but we only have guests from the hotel.
The young couple turn around quickly and walk off the terrace in shame, denied a lovely lunch in the glorious sunshine beneath the red awnings. More mist is sprayed on us and we drink our pink champagne, quietly smiling, basking in our small but meaningful achievement...life is good.
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