Day 86 was our last full day in Europe. As has been the pattern for this whole trip we easily filled the day. In the morning we visited the Musee d’ Orsay, we admired the wonderful old building, which had once been a railway station and loved the opportunity to see some of Europe’s finest artworks. We enjoyed the rest of the museum but the impressionist paintings of Monet and Renoir had the greatest impact. In the afternoon we ended our almost perfect 6 days in Paris with a Bateaux Cruise up and down the Seine. We have seen Paris by bus and on foot and also with the help of the metro, but to travel along its famous river was a wonderful way to end our trip to a city that deserves its reputation, as being the most beautiful city in Europe.
Our final dinner in Paris was like no other dinner of the whole trip. Daniele, the delightful French woman, who has rented us her apartment, invited us to her house for a home cooked meal. To end this way was perfect, but we did have one dilemma.
Like any couple we have our own unique likes and dislikes. One thing about us that is very unaustralian is that we don’t drink alcohol. We are not reformed alcoholics and it is not really for religious reasons it’s just that early in our marriage when money was very tight we simply could not afford to drink and we got out of the habit. With a job as a pastor, Richard is basically always on call, and he feels that he cannot really afford to be affected. Also after years of not drinking it seems really too much effort to start. We tend to annoy waiters in restaurants by asking for tap water, but we do like the fact that we can keep our costs down by not drinking wine. Also from a pastoral point of view we have seen, at close quarters, the destructive impact of alcohol on too many lives and communities. Even though we are in no way ‘members of a temperance society’ we just find it easier to enjoy a cup of tea rather than a glass of wine.
However once we were invited to Daniele’s for dinner we started to worry about what we should do. How can we refuse wine, which to the French is so much a part of a meal? Should we take a bottle of wine? (a very hard thing to do when you have no idea what to buy) Should we relax our no wine policy for just one night and be polite to our hostess? In the end after lots of agonising we decided to just be ourselves, and be ready to apologise for our preference for water. We also decided to take our hostess chocolates and flowers instead of the usual bottle of wine.
Daniele has been the perfect landlady and she proved to be the perfect hostess as well. When we arrived the inevitable question arose about what we would like to drink with our meal. Meekly we apologised about wine and asked for water. Our host responded with delight. She too was a non-drinker and was more than happy to treat us to water. She told us how embarrassed she often felt when guests (especially Australians) arrived with a bottle of wine, plonked it on the table and said “Open her up!”. Danielle confessed that she was not very French as she doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink wine and she doesn’t even eat cheese. She told us that in her opinion the perfect guest in France always bought flowers, not wine. What a relief and a nice reminder that we are, who we are, and on the road or at home it pays to be true to ourselves, rather than trying to live up to the expectations of those around us.
Two months in Europe has been an education, an adventure and a delight. Home cooked Quiche Lorraine, apple flan and bottled water with a view of the Eiffel Tower ( from the widow) was the perfect conclusion.
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