The Year's End 12-31-15

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!
So it's goodbye 2015 and welcome 2016.  We hope all of our friends and family will have a safe and sane New Years celebration.  We wish you health and happiness for the new year.
Ours was a quiet day followed by dinner at one of our favorite restaurants here in the 19th arr., La Laumiere.   They specialize in seafood and are in the top 1000 restaurants in Paris, not an insignificant feat in a city with over 12000 documented restaurants.  We have gone there ourselves and with our guests and each time the welcome and treatment by the staff have been exceptional.
But today I got out and did a little year end shopping while Deb did a bit of maintenance to the apartment.  We still have 2 months before we return the U.S. so letting things run down is not really an option.  Today was a few bottles of wine, a little fruit, and a box of tea.

Our dinner reservation was a lesson in French and American diplomacy, in order to make a reservation we could go to the website and reserve a table with a deposit equal to half the price of the dinner.  This was two weeks ago.  Of course our credit card won't work here even though we have a chip because we don't also have the 4-digit code to finish the transaction, ours requires a signature.  So I decided to go in person and make the reservation, figuring I could have them charge my card and I could sign right there.  So I walked in and told the maitre'd that we would like a reservation, he asked for my card which I gave him but when he heard I'd need to sign the receipt he said it wouldn't work on the reservation, so I offered cash; nope.  In the end he just said, I'll just make the reservation and don't worry about the deposit and smiled.   I assured him that we would be in the restaurant without fail, he laughed and said no problem.  Damned nasty French attitudes!
Since our dinner reservation wasn't until 8:30 we had all afternoon to kick back and anticipate our dinner.


So we spent the afternoon with a bottle of Taittinger "Prestige Rose" and a bit of reflection of the past year.  So much has gone on for us, so many new opportunities and experiences.   A cold and windy early spring, followed by early flowers. So many visitors that the summer virtually flew by.  A bright and cool fall followed by a, thus far, cool and relatively dry early winter.  
We have one more planned trip, to Sicily, in January for a bit of the sunny south.  Then February comes and we're down to weeks.  Doesn't your heart go out to us, with only two months left?  More time than most people would get to spend on a trip anywhere, in their lifetime?   In the meantime we'll keep you up to date on all our adventures and hope that you get enjoyment from our musings.