Happy 9th Anniversary!!

Although we agreed that the trip to Paris was the celebration of our anniversary (and the gifts the lovely perfume that we got for each other), we still wanted to go out on our actual wedding date. My job was to find an appropriate restaurant in Mons and get reservations. It sounds easy, but I had a specific atmosphere in mind, and a former coal-mining town doesn't have as much in the way of romantic restaurants as you would think.

So, I got myself together and started pounding the pavement in search of a good place. I started trolling back alleys (preferable to the Grand Place not just for fewer people, but also better prices) and was coming up empty. Then, I happened upon a lovely little place called Les Salon de Lumieres, which had chandeliers over the tables and a very Louis XIV flavor to it. I wrote down all the information about it from the window that I could find and rushed back to the apartment to translate and hopefully get more information on line. (Most restaurants here are closed either until dinner, or often, open for lunch, closed from 2-6pm and then open for dinner. This means I couldn't go in and ask or see a menu or make a reservation.)

Remarkably, they have a website - which Elizabeth told me was unusual. I translated everything I could with my Internet friend Babelfish and was thrilled by what it all said. It sounded perfect, so I called and was able to make a reservation for 8pm (a little later than I would have liked, but I wanted D to be able to come home and relax for a bit before we rushed out to spent time together).

Feeling extraordinarily pleased with myself, I went to the store and bought the ingredients for Michele's fantastic rice and bean salad (M- the rice is even better if you cook it with a bit of salt and 2T of olive oil, just yummy!) so that we would have something to munch on around 6pm - our normal dinner time. I also picked up a lovely red necklace at the local "Alternative Boutique" which is their name for thrift store. (I do love them.) I wanted a little color to go with my black dress.

D had a terrible day (not a good start) but thankfully was able to relax, eat a bit and enjoy our day. I was in such a great mood that I am sure that helped a little:-) We got ready and had D's co-worker take our picture and then headed off - oh, I had also wanted to pick a restaurant in walking distance since I didn't want D to have to drive and then fight with finding parking. The walk was lovely and the restaurant was all that I had hoped for. All the chandeliers were lit with real candles and there were really very few people inside. We had a fantastic table off by ourselves and were surrounded by beautiful stemware and illuminates.

Our waiter really added to our experience.  He was engaging, lively, nice and had an openness (and I am not sure exactly if that is the right word) that just made you want to be his friend.  I noticed that as the night went on, several of the people that came in said hello to him seemed to be friends.  Again, we used our limited French to much avail, until the end of the meal when we had to move to English.  They were offering us a free after dinner Amaretto (that the waiter's mother "mixed," I think that means made herself...intriguing).

The restaurant specializes in crepes and we had recommen-dations that I had found from the website, but surprisingly, we could understand enough of the menu to make informed decisions.  My favorite was the dessert (big surprise) which was a crepe with cooked banana and pear and a lovely chocolate sauce. Yummy. 

Presentation was the key for this lovely little establishment and they carried that through to the end, when they presented the bill in a decorative ceramic egg.  It was, I think, aside from one dinner on our honeymoon, the most romantic dinner I have ever had (that I can think of right now anyway.)  I HIGHLY recommend this place, in case you ever find yourselves in Mons, Belgium - take a look at the website, it doesn't do it justice, but it gives you a flavor.

http://www.salondeslumieres.com