Paris Day 4 - A Little Rain Won't Dampen This Party

Monday was our day to shop.  Keith was insistent that since this was my birthday trip, I had to go shopping.  Who was I to argue? :)

What I would have liked to argue about was the weather.  Mother Nature insisted on keeping the clouds around and she brought the constant rain.  When we had packed for Paris, the forecast was for 85 and sunny each day.  We didn't pack for rain, so we had to wing it.  Fortunately, the hotel had one last umbrella for us to borrow.

We headed down to the Champs de Elysees with a goal of making it to Avenue Montaigne, the street of high fashion like Prada, Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Dior and more.

The streets were lined with people and their umbrellas as the rain drizzled down.

We had a great time checking out the shops but as the rain began to fall heavier we decided that it was time for lunch.

I was super excited to finally find French Onion Soup in France.  I LOVE French Onion Soup.

Well, I'm not sure if it's the French Onion Soup in France or this restaurant, but it wasn't great.  The flavor was bland and there wasn't as single onion in the bowl.  I guess I'll stick with American French Onion Soup. :)

Keith had a simple Club Sandwich.

You'll notice, there aren't a lot of vegetable options in France.  By this time, we were really thinking a nice green salad sounded perfect, but they were hard to find and very expensive.

As we veered from Champs De Elyees to Avenue Montaigne, we stopped for a photo.

By the way, I'm totally bringing neon back to France.  Or bringing it for the first time.  I'm not certain, but I may have been the only person in Paris wearing neon.  I like to think that I'm fashion forward.  If not, I'll never see these people again and I didn't pack for rain. So there.

Scoping some fashion forward shades.

They weren't polarized so there was no way I was paying that price.  I don't think that Paris understands the strength of the Colorado sun.  What's Next?

Keith found himself some fancy shoes to go with his Murse.

From across the store, Keith says to me, "Hey, I have shoes like the ones over there."  I said "What, really?"  He said, "Ya, they have paint splattered shoes."  The difference between what he has and these is the red fur.  Surely, that's it.  He's such a fashionista.

We had such a great time checking out these stores.  Some things were great, some things were hideous and I'm not sure who would wear them.  I tried on some beautiful shoes, even though the sales lady was nearly shocked that I had such big feet.  As I told her, I'm very tall which comes with big feet.  The shoes were great, they were expensive, they hurt my feet, we left them at the store.  I'm not sure that they were suppose to be comfortable, but it was super fun.  We tried to go into Prada, but you had to ring the doorbell.  That's a bit too pretentious for our style and I don't think that they would know how to handle all of my neon.  We laughed, a lot.  We teased sales people, some.  We wondered who pays $8k Euros for a small hand bag, which we saw.  While trying on shoes, we watched a lady hand over all of her purchase decisions to her assistant.  It was such a different world and so much fun to experience.

While walking by a super fancy hotel that had a sidewalk lined with lamborghini, we noticed that smart cars were just as important to be parked out front in Vallet.  That was kind of like us.  We're the smart car with the lamborghinis on this street.  HA HA HA!!

It's so funny that two days before this we saw a rack of prints from Paris and most of them had rain, grey and umbrellas and we couldn't imagine the city being like that.  Here we were, right in the middle of that exact scene.

After a super fun afternoon of shopping in Paris, it was time for our afternoon connection over a beverage and charcuterie platter.

These were some of our favorite times, to just connect and be together.  We would sit, talk and enjoy our surroundings.  We didn't have any electronic interruptions as people were just barely waking up at home and we left our phones alone in order to save on international data.  It was just what we needed.

As we headed out, Keith wanted a picture of me with the Carrie sign.  It's red and by my finger.

It really is more fun to skip across the Champs de Elyees, especially after some wine.

On our final night in Paris, Keith arranged for a romantic birthday dinner with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  We got all spiffed up and Ubered down only to find that it was right next to the fancy lamborghini hotel.  Too funny.

It may have been raining outside, but it was cozy inside.

To the right, we could see the Eiffel Tower.

To the left, we had a great reflection of the Eiffel Tower as well.

We opted for the five course dinner.  Interestingly, it was considerably more economical and it also gave us a chance to try many different options.

Funny story.

Before we went to Paris, I had read that it was the law that restaurants had to post the prices.  If a restaurant didn't post their prices, you should leave.

When we sat down at this restaurant, there wasn't a single price on the menu.  I panicked a bit and told Keith about this.  He was so confused because his menu had prices.  Apparently, the ladies menu doesn't have prices on it.  We traded menus and I felt SO much better about it.  You know, I'm a bit of a planner.

First up, the fanciest tomato and burrata salad, ever.

The second course was a duck patte.  It really didn't do anything for either of us and it was the only thing that we didn't finish, wishing we could lick the plate.

For the third course, we had a choice.

I chose the pureed melon (cantaloupe, I think) with a fancy mild cheese (I'm sure it has a name that I can't remember or pronounce.  It was A-MAZ-ING!!!  I still dream of this dish!

Keith had the truffles risotto.  It was heavenly.  I managed to sneak 2 bites before he devoured it.

For our fourth course, we again had a choice.  I had steak that was melt in your mouth delish!

Keith had the fish.  He loved it!

As an unexpected in between, we enjoyed a small sorbet to cleanse our pallet.  It came with the smallest spoon, ever.

For the grand finale, we had a birthday dessert.  Much to our surprise, they brought it out with a 40th birthday candle.  Remember, Olivier, our Concierge?  Oh ya, he totally hooked us up with a window front seat and a birthday candle in my dessert.

Such a great birthday dinner with the man of my dreams.  I may still be dreaming, I'm not sure.  Pinch me!

Happy 40th, the best birthday EVER!!!

I didn't think the lava style cake could get any better, but when you throw a candle on top, it's  purely divine.

Keith's dessert was a strawberry sorbet of sorts and it was to die for.  I'm not sure, he may have gotten the better dessert.  Yet, then again, the freshly baked lava cake was amazing as well.

As if that wasn't enough, dinner was topped off with a tray of pastries.

Dinner blew us away and we loved every moment of it!

It turned out to be a gorgeous night in Paris and after a spectacular meal, we opted to stroll back toward the hotel.  We could call Uber from anywhere, so decided we would call them up when my feet were killing me (which never happened since we ended up walking the entire 1.5 miles home.)

Thanks for the BEST Birthday, Ever, Keith!

You and the boys are enough for me, but this celebration really was the icing on the cake.

With one last photo with the Arc de Triomphe in the background, we said Au Revoir to Paris, the city of love and the place to kiss.

THIS.IS.40!

Best Birthday, EVER!!!!!!