Note: Journaling is a great way to build your stories. When you keep a journal you can record details that would be long forgotten if you let days pass. Then when you look back at your pages, you relive those moments and your stories emerge. Sometimes journals can be stories in themselves.

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The sun is out and it is a beautiful day for a picnic.

I wash my hair. I take my time in the morning. I am not in a rush to get anywhere. We are to meet at the park at 1 p.m. I vacuum and shake the rugs out on the balcony. I go out to get some things I think, ah yes, the bread for the picnic. I go to that fabulous bakery near me.

I pack my picnic things, taking the chilled wine, the fruit and cheese out of my tiny refrigerator, and I set out for the train. I am glad that I brought along my cloth shopping bag from home. It is the perfect size for the picnic items and I can fold it right up and put it back into my purse afterwards.

I find the park and by that soon there are Jack and Randy. Steve has been sitting on the grass near the gate near where I am but I didn’t recognize him with his visor and sunglasses on.

Pretty soon, here are William and Fredrick too. We all go in. We spread out the blankets and the abundance of food. Jack is so nice and friendly and inclusive of William and Fredrick. He speaks easily in French to Fredrick and that is nice, to make him feel welcome. Eric, Steve’s partner, who is also French, is not here yet and so Fredrick is the lone French person amongst all these Americans. We open the wine, they like my Chardonnay. We pick and choose. My bread disappears. The cheese I brought is also enjoyed and the mango and pineapple. Steve and Randy talk about diets. Randy brought very good chocolate chip cookies and the chocolate starts melting in the sunshine.



Jack, moi, Eric, Fred, Bill, Steve


Bill and Fred


Bill, moi, Steve, Randy (in white cap), Jack


Bill and moi

The time passes and William and Fredrick and I go for a walk around the lake. Eric arrives and he and Fredrick speak easily in French to one another. It is nice. Then we play dominoes, laying on the blankets. The two French win and gloat. Steve and I are left playing, then I am out and he is last.

I am ready to go and I know William and Fredrick are too. We had talked last night about taking the Bateau Mouche along the Seine after the picnic. I ask if they still want to do that, and they are up for it. Jack has helped me with another transportation/ticket dilemma. The suggestion is to go to Versailles when the fountains are on, on Sunday. How to get a ticket? I can print one at Jack and Randy’s.

We pack everything up and go on the tram to Jack and Randy’s apartment, William and Fredrick and Jack and Randy and I.

Jack and I manage to get the ticket situation figured out while Randy and William and Fredrick visit in the living room. The Versailles website is slow. Afterwards, they all figure out how to most easily get to the Seine for the boatride. The evening is beginning.

We stroll along the Seine and arrive at the boat. We pass several dinner cruise boats and they look like fun. In one there is a woman alone, all dressed up. She is just at the head of the boat, enjoying her appetizer, with a glass of wine. She looks up at me, I see her, she smiles and I smile back. It is this moment in time. She is happy, she is wanting for nothing is what she seems to say. It is OK to be alone, to enjoy things alone. It is a beautiful moment. I feel a kinship with her as though we know each other but have never met. I nod to her as I continue on.

We get on the Bateau Mouche. And the darkness falls and the lights of Paris twinkle and the tour guide speaks in all languages and there are also handhelds that you turn to a channel to get more information about Paris history and the sights. We cruise slowly by Notre Dame, all lit up. We glide under the bridges, the Pont Neuf where it is said if you kiss your wish will come true. It is a beautiful boatride and then we return and see the Eiffel Tower all lit up blinking lights, the whole tower. It is spectacular.

We say good bye and I thank them.

They are on their vacation tomorrow to the south of Spain.

I return to my apartment and am asleep soon afterwards.

You can continue to read about my Paris trip here: Day 8 http://tellourlifestoriesblog.com/2011/05/27/sunday-april-17-2011-versailles.aspx