Tuesday 19th July

Last night after we got home from dinner we did some washing. We have a front loader machine that also dries the wash if you want it to. We didn’t so just put it on to wash. Now Vincente told us that when it spins it makes a bit of a noise – that was an understatement. As the washer is in an annex off our bedroom – no doors or anything – you certainly couldn’t put a wash on and go to bed – THE RACKET!!

But about the time we went to bed it started to rain and as we are on the top floor – a climb of 78 steps but very like the Arc de Triomphe just a circular staircase – we could hear the rain on the roof. We awoke this morning and it was fair chucking it down so we showered and made our breakfast and did the blog thing and read. Ten o’clock – no change. Midday – no change. The water was flowing off of the roofs adjacent and across the lane from us. We had sent an email to Glorieux to postpone our walk as even with an umbrella it would have been no fun and we would have got soaking wet. She rang us and after a long chat – seems her brother worked in Christchurch in the 70s as an architect and worked alongside Beaven. She seemed to think that we would know him. Should have put her on to GC as I’m sure he would know him!! Anyway she suggested that we ring her next week to rearrange the meet.

Rang my brother Graeme today and it was good to catch up with him. He was his same cheeky self as usual!

As the afternoon wore on the rain eased, which is just as well, as I had booked a romantic dinner on a boat on the Seine for us. Got dressed in our best gear and away we went with the umbrella up and walked to a Metro station, different from the one we arrived at yesterday as we needed to use a different line. Two trains later we got out at a stop near the Eiffel Tower and walked the block to the Seine where we were to get the boat. Handed over our bit of paper printed out in NZ and got our boarding pass and went aboard. No sooner had we sat down than the waiter bought our sparking water and more importantly the red wine. He took our orders for the three courses that we wanted and the couple at the next table came and sat down. Lara and Marcus were from Brazil and here on their second honeymoon – 3 years young. We exchanged pleasantries and she was keen to know about NZ. The boat untied and set off down the river and our meals came – the rain stopped – the food was great – the wine was good and it was over all too quickly. What a lovely evening we had.

We got off the boat in no hurry and wandered over to the Eiffel Tower. The queues were huge for people wanting to go up and we just stolled about and took photos and watched all of the people for a while and then retraced our steps to the Metro to get the two trains back to our apartment. Jannie got out the maps and information for tomorrow as we are going to Versailles with the Fat Tire Bike Company!!