Usually the Luxembourg gardens looks bleak in winter,  but whether it was because we were imbibed with the Christmas spirit or it was the sunshine, or we were just in relaxed romantic mood, I don’t know but today it looked wonderful.  Calm and green and elegant…. and the most romantic place in the world.

People often ask on TA about romantic places in Paris, but romance is all about who you are with, how you feel about them and how they behave.

My husband had booked this trip, because I complained that we were always alone on Christmas day, because our children were always at their other parent or in laws.  Usually we see them all on 26th December, which is Boxing day in the UK, so we had spent the previous weekend visiting them all and distributing present instead, so Christmas started early for us.

From the time he booked the trip, he became the man who suddenly  could do no wrong!

 If any man want s to know how to please a woman,  just do what Michael did on this trip.  Just do not think of yourself and indulge her every whim!

Don’t get me wrong, my husband is no saint, he can be awkward and cantankerous, but for the past couple of weeks, all his failings just seemed to fade away as I became  more patient and tolerant with his idiosyncrasies, consequently he was more tolerant of mine and peace and love reigned!

 So this boxing day here we were meandering again around Paris.  Rekindling the feelings that have kept us together for over twenty years.  Just to prove that romance is not the prerogative of the young.

Maybe it was this rose coloured view we kept as we slowly wandered  from the Luxembourg through the sixth arrondissement to the river.  Stopping for coffee and to visit grand churches and  little shops.  People watching and talking to each other.

 I asked him again if there was something he was not telling me,   as he does have a chronic illness, which seems fine at the moment, but it is always a worry that it may deteriorate, but he reassured me that apart from a small mouth ulcer that had just developed, he was OK.

 Paris looked beautiful.  In summer this area is full of tourists and I avoid it, but today most people were French speaking and there was room to move.  I love to notice what women wear in Paris and try to guess their nationality.  There was evidence of Eastern European women in beautiful fur coats.  Too warm for today actually.

Ankle boots seem to be taking over from the knee high leather kind of previous winters, and I smirked with satisfaction that I had chosen to wear my most comfy,  cheap, fur lined ankle boots which I bought from Aldi for cycling which seemed to be accidentally on trend!  There were still lots of down coats and beret type hats about, and of course nobody wears scarves like the French, women and men.

We strolled. along  the Seine and then back to rue de Buci for a last meal of oysters for him and soup de poisson for me.

Here are some of my pictures.

Hotel D’Aubusson got our vote for the nicest Christmas interior

On the way back to the Hotel du Panthenon to pick up our luggage, we noticed this car, filled to the brim with rubbish, newspapers and brick a brack.  In the car were living two elderly people, obviously with mental health issues.

The woman, constantly moved things around, as if tiding up.  at the same time screaming abuse at the old man, who passively sat and looked out of the window.  We had passed them in the morning when the old man, who was rather dirty and smelly,  had got out of the car and gone for a walk, with the lady shouting after him.   So sad, and such an awful life.

So we collected our cases from the hotel du Panthenon and said our goodbyes to Paris.

Just in case you think this is all nauseating moonlight and roses and a happy ever after story I must tell you that when we got off the RER at the airport, Mr Man who could do no  wrong, suddenly turned into Mr, Man who finds fault with everything I do!  

On the flight, as I sat in confused angry silence, he said, “I must go to the hospital tomorrow”  and I realised that he was worried about his  medical condition.  The mouth ulcer, which had got bigger,  being a sign that all was not well, I also know that this tends to affect his mood and make him grumpy.

Not that he would admit this was what was making him grumpy and it did not  stop me seething with anger at his unreasonableness and this resulted in a blazing argument the next day.

Still, the making up was nice and we are friends again and this is what relationships are about, for better for worse, in sickness and in health.

…and I now think to myself

“we will always have Paris”

for this is one of those undying memories I will never forget.

Love

Denise