Caroline in Paris

Nick is back, and we are (slowly, bumpily) getting back into the swing of things. And one of the things that we normally can quite reliably be counted on to do is take the dog for obscenely long walks on weekend afternoons, so yesterday we headed out with a full bag and no clear plan.

Naturally I did not think to include my camera in the bag, but when the paths of the Bois du Boulogne opened out onto an unbelievably idyllic lake, not even this grave oversight could prevent me from soldiering on. So here is a rough representation of the lake:

And in the middle of this lake appeared a lovely manicured island with a Michelin-starred restaurant in the middle of it and a happy crowd of well-dressed people waiting for the ferry that would allow them to eat there, or simply to recline among the statues and flowers:

The real turning point of the walk, however, came when I discovered that I happened to be carrying in my wallet cash in the exact amount of the damage deposit for one of the rowboats that were drifting around the lake. And once we established that Jolie was also allowed in the boat with us, we were off, looking, perhaps, a bit like this:

except with Nick in more masculine attire, and with a dog hiding under my skirt. And, when she was feeling brave, poking her nose over the side of the boat to stare at the water.

I am hesitant to judge her, though, since in all of the confusion before we got onto the boat in the first place, she managed to get her front half into our bag, rummage around a bit, and come up with her water bowl. She set it down (right side up), stuck her nose into it for a second, and then stared at Nick accusingly. Which is how we found out that she was thirsty. How cool is that??

Nick heroically rowed us around the island, acquiring a number of really icky blisters along the way, which I appreciated greatly because the scenery was really stunning:

There was even, conveniently enough, a charming arched bridge linking one part of the island to another:

Seriously. I don’t think that even I could pull off making up a thing like that.