My trip has turned into something else. I'm still not sure what that is. Between the hilarity at the hotel and last night after dinner at Bistrot Linois, I can't even tell you how unexpected and fun my evening was.
Meet David Mackenzie. Retired Commander of the British Royal Navy after thirty eight years of service. I sat down at a table next to him at Bistrot Linois.
He moved his coat to allow for my purse to have a place to sit. Then someone sat down next to him on his other side so he had to move it back. My purse and his jacket shared the chair between us. He began a conversation with me. I think I sat down around 8:30pm. We ended up chatting for hours and hours. We shared a cheese plate and he told me stories of his time in the Navy. Though he retired last year, he is now working for the French Government as part of an international team on projects related to Anti-Piracy. I, being a fan of everything Pirate related, found him to be very interesting.
David mentioned An American In Paris right from the start of our conversation. I explained that I feel like I'm in a Woody Allen film. This became evident to him as the hours went by. Strange things began to happen.
This man appeared out of nowhere, dressed as a train operator. He was pulling a string and then he stopped. The train of vehicles was lead by a GI Joe driving a tank. As he was turning the corner, one of them got stuck behind a light pole. Everyone near him attempted to help get him on track. It was amazing to watch. He makes everyone smile. David and I were both laughing at the incident as we were not aware of this man. He is well known here and is very friendly.
I didn't even realize how long we had been sitting there until my buddy from the hotel appeared. He joined us for a drink around 10:30pm.
While the three of us were enjoying our drinks and conversation, another man stopped and pointed at David. He was blasted and all he managed to mutter was, "IRISH!". David responded with close, but British. The two attempted to speak to each other. As it turned out, the man was Jewish-Irish, born in DC and had been living in Israel for the past several years. He was quite the character. I asked if I could take his photo and he was happy to pose for me. He put his bag down for the photo. I didn't get his name.
As the evening progressed, David and I continued drinking and talking. He asked me to not smile for five minutes...he said that every time I smiled some strange man would stop and talk to us. I was laughing but it was kind of true. It did serve to prove that the Woody Allen movie reference was not a joke.
We ended up shutting the place down. David walked me back to my hotel because he thought I was kidding about the Marilyn Monroe theme of my hotel. He was so much fun to spend time with. His stories were incredible. He went back to London today as he had a Summer Ball to attend. He met my other friend, also named David, at the hotel. He departed right after that.
The guys at my hotel are lovely. I had mentioned over our bottle of champagne that I wanted Pain au Chocolate from a good bakery. The next day, I was given two along with a pair of Strawberry Tarts.
I'm getting used to this Parisian holiday lifestyle. Everything about this trip has me laughing and smiling. The people here are wonderful.
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