Paris Miracles

Mary and I arrived safely in Paris, and since I'm still on Missouri time and am wide awake at 2 a.m., or whatever time it is, thought I would blog a little about the trip so far. We are finding all sorts of miracles this week, of varying significance. Now, I define "miracles" the same way I translate French, which is rather loosely. What I mean by miracles is, things that are pleasant and unexpected--unlike the things we were expecting that could have been not so much fun.

Here they are in temporal order:

1. The weather is terrific. Weather Underground warned me before our trip that the last several years this particular week in April has been rainy and in the 50's. We even got matching raincoats, because the motto for every (even old ) Girl Scout is: Be Prepared. So we came prepared. Maybe that's the reason it's sunny and upper 70's. It does, however,cool off enough to need a coat in the evening, which is frankly about when our day begins. But the coats look great, I must say.

2. Everyone in Paris actually speaks English. It's true! I'm coming to realize that this is a closely-guarded secret, only used after the second or third sentence in French. Or at least in my French. It goes something like this typical cafe conversation:

Bonjour, Madame. (Hello young, beautiful woman. --- I warned you about my French translation.)

Bonjour, Monsiuer. Je veux bien un croissant amande. Et ma fille veut un crepe avec fromage et jambon. (Hello, Sir. I want an almond croissant, and my daughter wants a crepe with ham and cheese.)

Do you want coffee?

(Wait a minute....awww. The fun French speaking is over, I think.)

(He thinks, maybe if I smile she will speak English rather than make French sound that bad.)

(He smiles.)

3. Everyone we have met in Paris is very kind. They smile all the time. Mary thinks it's because they assume we are Irish rather than American (maybe a result of our matching green raincoats?). I think,...well, you know what I think. (see #2, above.)