Paris- Anniversary Dinner

Matt and I had one date night out while we were in Paris. How could we ever decide what to do?

A friend of mine had visited the city about a year ago, and shared pictures of her experience with Bustronome. A double decker bus tour with a gourmet dinner? That sounded perfect for our anniversary dinner!

When the big night arrived, we were to meet the bus near the Arc de Triomphe. We arrived a few minutes early so I could take pictures.

Now, let's talk about the traffic in this roundabout for a minute. I don't know the rules of the road here, but it just looked like a free for all (and no lane markings!).  Here are my blurry photos trying to capture the chaos.

 And here's a YouTube video that does a better job (although from above it looks more organized than it felt).

Back to our date. It had started raining that afternoon, and there was still a steady drizzle as we boarded and were led to our table. It rained on and off the whole evening, which was terrible for pictures. But we talked about it, and agreed that it made for a better experience because we could be present in the moment instead of looking for a good shot or viewing through our phones. We did manage to take a few pictures though.

This tray kept our glasses from sliding around during the journey, and the placemat had a bit of grip to hold onto the plates and cutlery

This was our route. There was also an audio tour, which we listened to most of the time.

I liked the wallpaper

You can get dinner with or without wine pairing. We had champagne, white, and red (and maybe ordered a couple of extra  glasses).

All of the food was amazing. 

Tiny hollowed potatoes filled with cheese

Turnip celery hummous and beetroot pesto

Dry cured cod marinated in herbs, potatoes with speckled hay, and tarragon fromage blanc

One of the best pictures we attempted

Opera Garnier

Well, we tried

King prawn risotto with pumpkin, sweet chestnut and spinach leaves

Matt's looked a little sad without the prawns

Beef striploin with a mushroom froth, whipped truffle cream, and fried parsley

Beaufort cheese with peppered pear and a thin layer of coconut

The red wine was my favorite

When making the reservation, I noted that it was an anniversary dinner. Well, in French, the word "anniversaire" on its own means birthday. Joyeux anniversaire, Matt!

Vacherin cheese with fig and cinnamon

Of course, the whole time we were eating, we were driving around the city, looking (through rain) at various landmarks and other points of interest. We saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs de Mars... Also we noticed two Five Guys (one was three stories, which seemed a little over the top to us). But we stayed on the bus the whole time, until we got to the Eiffel Tower.

The bus stopped, and we stepped outside for pictures. Luckily it had stopped raining. At night, not only is the tower fully lit, but every hour it sparkles for five minutes.We watched the lights, then went back to our table for the final bit of the tour.

Obligatory selfie

Here's a video clip of the light show.

This wasn't listed on the menu, but it was a lovely little sweet bite to finish off

We arrived back at the Arc de Triomphe, and since the rain had stopped, we decided to walk the entire way to the apartment. We decided to enjoy each other's company, and didn't take pictures of our walk. One point of interest, though. We were walking through a park area near the Eiffel Tower, and out of nowhere a rat ran right across our path! It was a few feet away from my feet, but it still scared the crap out of me! (I guess I've led a sheltered life, because that's never happened to me before.)

The entire night was pretty perfect; we both had a really lovely time together. And this isn't a sponsored post at all, but I would highly recommend Bustronome to anyone in Paris (they have one in London, too). It is a really cool concept, and the food was fantastic! A great way to celebrate our anniversary.