In February 2005, before L & I were married, we took a weekend trip to Las Vegas. I have to admit, I'm not a huge Vegas fan. I don't particularly care for gambling (and I suck at it!) But we had never been to Vegas together and we thought it would be fun. Well, it was more than fun. It was one of the most memorable trips of our lives.
We stayed at the Paris Hotel, which, if you're not familiar with it, has a giant replica of the Eiffel Tower as its calling card on the famous Strip. The hotel is charming, with various homage to the true City of Lights. Amidst the casino, there was a little creperie serving crepes with nutella, and several French-themed restaurants including Mon Ami Gabi, a most excellent and authentic French bistro. But the best restaurant in the place was The Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was located in the middle of the faux Eiffel Tower, above the riff raff in the casino. We decided to have dinner there on Saturday night.
I remember that whole day, L was acting, well, busy. I took a long nap while he went to the gym. When I woke up, no L. He came back an hour after I woke from my 2 hour nap. I asked him where the hell he went and he made some vague excuse about working out "really hard" and then getting a steam. Then we got a strange phone call and he told me it was his boss who wanted to tell him to enjoy his weekend off. That really seemed strange. Why the hell would his (now ex) boss call and say that? Something seemed amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
As we were getting ready to go out to dinner, I called an old friend from college, who lived in Vegas, and invited her to meet us for a drink at the bar at the restaurant. L nervously asked if she was going to join us for dinner. I told him I had not invited her to do so, but we should play it by ear. Somehow that made L seem agitated. The dilemma was resolved when she told me she couldn't make it. Still, it was unlike L to not to be social.
We arrived at the restaurnnt. The maitre'd knew my name and told us our table wasn't quite ready. "How did he know my name?" I wondered. Just a couple minutes later, the same man returned to tell us that our table was ready and to follow him. So we did.
He led us to the best, the very best, table in the restaurant. I mean, this table was one of the best tables I've ever sat at in my life (and so remains to this day.) Let me explain, the restaurant which was several, no many, stories in the air, has floor to ceiling windows that overlook the Vegas Strip. The Paris is across the street from the Bellagio, so the focal point of the panoramic view is the Bellagio fountain. We were seated in the corner so we had an 180 degree view and were directly facing the Bellagio fountain. It was magnificient. I said to L "how did we get this table??" He was equally impressed, but not responsive.
Soon the waiter brought our menus. I picked mine up, glanced at it, perused it, but continued yapping away about nothing and sipping my cocktail. L said "what are you going to have?" I told him I really didn't know yet. He urged me to look at the menu. I didn't know why he was rushing me to make a decision. I wanted to enjoy the scenery and take my time. But I began to read the menu.
It all looked fabulous. Hmmm, what should I get. Wait...what was that? Did I see the words "diamonds and sapphires" used to describe one of the entrees? That's weird. Let me read that again. What is a "Princess Special?" What kind of meat is that? What kind of cut of meat is an "emerald cut diamond?" And it's got 2 sapphires..is that a side I've never heard of? I'll have to ask L...but wait..what does that say on the next line say..."will you marry me, D?" WAIT.....THAT'S ME!!!!
I looked up from my menu, in complete shock. L saw the shock on my face, knew I had (finally!) seen the proposal and jumped down on one knee with a diamond and sapphire engagement ring in his hand. I said yes. The servers applauded.
I think that was the most romantic moment of my life. (The food was good, too!)
