Friday, September 1

Surpise in Saint-Pierre



We arrived in Saint-Pierre shortly after midnight and checked into our accommodation, Résidence Les Iris. We have a very comfortable apartment with a large bedroom containing two beds: one queen, one single. The other main room contains a dining table, desk (with high speed Internet connection), and mini-kitchen with sink, refrigerator, microwave oven, kettle, coffee maker, toaster and two burner stovetop.

Because we came in so late the night before, we had breakfast at Les Iris: yogourt, coffee, and deliciously fresh croissants and pain au chocolat.

We spent most of the day trying not to run into Susan's parents while doing some exploring and putting in some supplies! Lunch was at the brasserie in l'Hôtel Ile de France - we both had salade d'endive terre et mer (saumon et canard fumé), washed down with a demi pichet du vin rouge and accompanied by very acceptable bread.

Then came the big moment ... we arrived at the restaurant La Voilerie at about 7:20pm. Erika, Graham, Murray and Jean were already seated at their table for four ... M and J with their backs to the door. We walked up behind them and said "Happy Anniversary ... mind if we join you?" Dad said later that he wasn't surprised by the anniversay wishes but did wonder why perfect strangers would want to join them for dinner!

It was a wonderfully enjoyable evening. We started dinner with feuilleté de chêvre followed by magret de canard avec ses pommes et sauce Calvados for Susan and brochette de crevettes et coquilles St. Jacques avec sauce hollandaise for Steve. This was accompanied by a very nice Bordeaux and followed by a delicious cake which consisted of raspberries, several layers of light pastry and cream.

Everyone had a marvelous time and it was well worth the effort getting there for the occasion!