Our hotel sits on the Rue de Mont Blanc, across the sreet from the lake and around a courtyard park. It is a truly lovely old European style hotel with all the amenities and charm one expects from the old world: elevators with doors you have to close yourself and can barely fit 4 peple; turn dwn service each night; a pants press instead of an iron; a warming towel rack and bide in the toilet; a rather formal lobby with red leather stuffed chairs and fresh flowers; excellent service and incredibly gracious employees.
The boys have a room adjacent to ours and our keys open both sets of doors. This arrangement seems to be working well, prviding us all with the solace an privacy needed to ensure civility while traveling with family.
After settling in, we went for a walk to enjoy the lovely sunshine. We walked around the edge of the lake, to the right bank, and walked to the end of the pier that normally is off limits when the fountian is on. I am not sure why it was off, but Genevans were out in force, soaking up the sun. This is the way I imagine piers in Seattle look whenthe sun emerges after a few days. Later we saw the spot where we were standing on the pier and its clear that we would have gotten soaked.
After enjoying the park along the bank (where there is a clock made out of flowers) we went in search of dinner. We ended up a Tapas place called Bodego 21, where the entire menu was in French and Spanish. Colby's Spanish isnLt quite to the level we needed but after some Google translate to ensure we were not ordering something incredibly odd, we asked the server to bring us whatever she thought best.
Greatest idea ever. She brought us some kind of mild chili pepper roasted and rolled in large salty flakes, shrimp bubbling in red sauce, chacuterie with local cheeses and meats, teryaki style chicken, almond cake and burnt cream. All were god bt the peppers were my surprising favorite.
After, we made our way back through the park, now lit with twinkling lights (and signs for every brand of watch known to man), past the now fully operational fountain and to our hotel.
The boys settled in for the night while Steve and I perched in the lounge to enjoy a French 75 and scotch while a delightful older couple (who appeared to somehow be connected to the managemnt) sang and played piano. It was incredibly romantic to relax (after 23 hours of travel) with a drink and lovely live music. I won't forget that memory, no matter how jet legged i felt.
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