Breaking Storms Part 3
Usual disclaimer applies, and once again I have nothing of value, unless you value odd socks, old copies of Top Gear Magazine and many, many pictures of Jenson Button.
Niles and Daphne were once again trying to decide where to go for the day, Daphne wanted to go up the Lake District, whereas Niles wanted to go anywhere with a museum or 5. They eventually decided to go to Chester, because Daphne realised that a day tramping round Grizedale forest was up there with going to a Seahawks game on Niles' list of things he won't want to do.
When they were talking about where they were going that day and they said they were going to Chester, Gertrude asked Daphne if she could go to Marks and Spencers to pick up some items of a personal nature.
In the car on the way to Chester Niles asked Daphne what she wanted picking up, "If you really want to know she asked me to pick up some undergarments for her, and anyway when I am doing that you can go for a coffee or wander round the city centre" He was quite relieved that she wouldn't take him with her to run an errand for her mother.
When they arrived in Chester Niles immediatley preferred it to Blackpool, possibly due to the fact that there were no women in t-shirts bearing the legened 'Slags On Tour' and vomiting in shop doorways. "Well what do you want to do?" Daphne asked.
"Well coffee seems like a good idea, so why don't we find a little cafe, then we can go for a walk around the city" replied Niles.
They spent the morning wandering aimlessley around the city, including a large portion of the city wall, which Niles was facinated to discover was the almost complete. Now it was lunchtime they sat on the banks of the River Dee relaxing in the warm summer sun, which made for a pleasant change from the intermittent drizzle of the previous day. They were distracted by the sight of a Roman centurion passing by, a tour guide they presumed, "You'd look really sexy in one of those outfits" Daphne whispered seductively in Niles' ear. He looked at her seductivley and raised an eyebrow "Well Miss Moon, I may have to try and find one then." he replied with a sly grin crossing his face.
After lunch Daphne went to M&S in order to pick up her mother's things, whilst she did that Niles made his way to the coffee shop where they had agreed to meet, on the way he passed a jewellers and his eye was immediatley drawn to a ring in the window, it was elegant and diginifed, just like the woman it was intended for, a solitary diamond in a platinum band. When he entered the jewellers he was distracted as he thought he saw Daphne going past the window, fortunatley it was just a woman of similar build and the same top. "How may I help sir?" the assistant behind the counter asked,
"Yes I would like to see a ring that is on display in the window" after describing it the man brought it out for Niles to view, it was just perfect.
"Is it an engagement ring sir?"
"Yes, could I try it
on, as my girlfriend and I are the same ring size and I want this to
be a surprise."
"Why certainly sir." It was a
perfect fit. Niles paid and quickly stowed it in his jacket pocket,
that last thing he wanted was for Daphne to find it.
Niles got a surprise when he entered the cafe as Daphne was already sat there, evidently M&S was a little quieter than she expected and she was in and out in 10 minutes. After finishing their coffees, Niles and Daphne made the way back to the car as they had to be back fairly early as Niles had insisted that he take the entire family out for dinner and they both wanted to freshen up. The meal went without a hitch, until Simon suggested that they retire to the pub, evidently he and his brothers wanted to get the measure of Niles, fortunatley Daphne insited on going with them, if they were left unnatened with Niles she feared what they would do to him, it was a given they would get him drunk, but after that anything could happen. One of her ex boyfriends James found that out the hard way, he went our for a quiet drink, he finally returned 3 days later with "Your Name" tattooed on his arm, apparantley Simon thought it would make a great chat-up line, "I've got your name tattooed on my arm" Daphne had other ideas, she just thought that it would be creepy if a guy came up to her and said that, and more importantly where had they been for the past three days, apart form the pub and eviedently a tattoo parlour, it seems that they had stayed with one of Nigel's mates. The last thing she wanted was for that to happen to Niles. They eventually left the pub at 11, with the excuse that they were flying to Paris the next afternoon, and still had to pack.
Luckily for them Stephen was driving them to the airport, and in a rare moment of sensibilty from a male member of the Moon family, he had stuck to soft drinks the night before, in order to be sober enough to get them to the airport on time.
As with the flight from Seattle, the journey to Paris was uneventful, but mercifully much shorter, as Niles had drunk a little more than usual the night before and was still feeling the effects that afternoon, so rather than take an early evening stroll around one of the most romantic cities in the world, Niles was asleep in the hotel and Daphne was stood on the balcony admiring the view.
Thankull Niles had recovered somewhat by the next morning and was ready to see Paris again as the last time he was there was as a student. Their first port of call was the Louvre, despite the enormous queue Daphne insisted they go in
"I want to see the Mona Lisa, I don't even care if it's the only bloody picture I see in the entire gallery". Despite the length of the queue, it moved quite quickly and soon they were in the gallery, natrually the room housing the Mona Lisa was crowded, but Daphne was happy once she had seen it, Niles then proceeded to give her a personally guided tour. They left the gallery mid-afternoon due to the long queue and the fact that natrually the whole place was quite busy so they made slow progress, the rest of the day was spent in a small pavement cafe on the banks of the Seine, with an excellent view of thier destination for the next day, the Ille Notre Dame.
Niles revelled in his new-found role as tour guide, showing Daphne the sights of Paris, some of them full of fellow tourists, others places he discovered in his semester in the city. He felt truly relaxed for the first time in years, the last time he had been to Europe, it had been with Maris on their honeymoon, and he had not had the chance to revisit the places that became a second home to him.
All to soon their time in Paris was over, he had managed to aquire two tickets for Rigoletto at La Scala, so they had to be in Milan the next day.
