Darling, there's something I must tell you

Will has a fund of interesting stories. He told this true story about a senior executive who had lived a 'very full' life and who was very ill. He was lying on his death bed and he was looking for salvation. He decided to tell his wife all about his misdeeds, including his long running affair with his secretary, and to beg forgiveness. His wife was non too pleased and listened in silence as he unburdened himself. Anyway, it turned out that he wasn't as ill as everyone thought and he actually got better. Surprisingly, his marriage started to go down hill after that!

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Today there was a national strike called in France so we had the fun of 'doing our thing', trying to avoid problems. What became quickly apparent was that most things were running normally. Having established that it was open, we headed for the Rodin museum over near the Hotel des Invalides. It doesn't take you long to realise that Rodin was very productive and must have been quite wealthy by the time he died in 1917.
Lunch was at a new, excellent find, Cafe de l'Esplanade (52 rue Fabert, 75007 tel. 0147 05 38 80). Recommended. This place was full of very smart middle aged gentlemen who had very kindly decided to meet their nieces for lunch. It was amazing that so many uncles and nieces had decided to eat lunch together on the same day. I only hope that all my nieces will be just as good looking!
With an hour to spare before Jan and I had to head for the station, we decided to pop into the Hotel des Invalides to see where Napoleon is buried. Boy, do they revere this man. His tomb was very impressive. After a final drink on the Champs Elysée we made our sad farewells and jumped into a taxi.

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As the taxi moved off, the driver asked us where we wanted to go and went ballistic when I said Gare de Lyon. The hotel didn't tell him the destination, knowing that he would refuse the fare. GdL was right in the middle of all the demonstrations and a pig to get to. If indeed we could get to it at all. Needless to say we did, after we passed under a viaduct with the demonstrators who were moving off to pastures new. The train left on time, (so much for the strike) and arrived in Nîmes 4 minutes late. Two nights and three days of fun. Excellent.