A Paris weekend

So, it was my guy’s birthday a couple of days ago.

Back in November, there had been some (as it turned out) crazy talk about going to Cuba for a week. Investigations revealed that it is bloody awkward to get from Vancouver to Havana the first week of January. (Flights from Vancouver on Air Canada all involve a change in either Toronto or Montreal and almost all go to the resort airport, not Havana, where we wanted to stay. Cheaper airlines only go to the resort airport, which is miles from the city. There was one Aero Mexico option that involved a a red eye to Mexico City, a long layover before connecting flight to Havana.) It would also have been ridiculously expensive, as it was still peak holiday season.

Then there was some talk of going to Tofino for a couple of days of winter waves, but again peak holiday costs. Not quite as expensive for a decent hotel as going to Cuba, but alarmingly close (especially as I’d be the one paying for this birthday treat and I’m not exactly rolling in dough).

Eventually I said fuck it, why don’t we just go back to Victoria and stay in that hotel with the fabulous bar?

So we did.

I even splurged a bit on a “junior suite”.

Bit titchier than it looked in the photos on the hotel website, but very pleasant. (Although, oddly, not a plate or piece of cutlery to be found in the cupboards and drawers of the “kitchenette”.)

Only problem with going to Victoria is that he has a daughter and granddaughter who live there and might expect a visit, which really wasn’t part of the getaway plan. So he didn’t say anything. Early on his birthday morning there was a message from her: “You’re not home.” He didn’t reply. A follow up: “Where are you?” A brief reply that I’d whisked him away for his birthday. Then a FaceTime call from her. He still wouldn’t say where we were.

Later in the day, a return visit to his “candy store”, discovered on our last visit.

Many CDs purchased for both of us and a delightful conversation with the extremely knowledgable shop owner. Before we left, I asked him to take a photo of us. (About time I had one.) He did.

Back at the hotel a thought occurred to me. I asked him if he could somehow photoshop the picture to put the Eiffel Tower in the background. If he was at home with his computer he could, he said, but not at the moment. Quel dommage.

Oh, but wait, my friend Ray could do this standing on his head. Sent him a text with the image and a request. Ten minutes later this arrived.

Oh, ha, ha, ha. Image duly dispatched to daughter, whose response was pretty much what I just wrote. She didn’t buy it, but that didn’t stop me laughing all day. Thank you Ray!

Oh, and PS, we will actually be in France in April. Watch this space.