Friends,

        I had to work, even though it was a Saturday.  However, 
I released  myself at 7PM, and got home to my "significant 
harassment", in time to go down to the Riverwalk, find a fine 
Italian restaurant with great seafood choices, and a
table 6" from the river.  The ambiance was as good as Rome 
or France.   

The table was wood with a large umbrella that had a soft 
light in it.  The crowds were wall to wall walking by us 
and we were between them and the "river." 
 
        The service was, surprisingly, as good as in France.  
Our waiter poured our wine all night and we couldn't get to 
it before he would come over and refill.  He was perfect.  
Although we did get a giggle out of his trying to make a 
big deal out of serving a cheap bottle of Canei Lambrusco, 
with a plastic screw cap, as if it was a fine wine.  
He opened it and we swear he almost offered the cap for 
inspection!  I told him we had just come from seven
years in  Germany.  He then regaled us with his knowledge 
of Piersporter and Liebfraumilch wines from Germany.  
I didn't have the heart to tell him that Liebfraumilch 
is the wine that no European, least of all a self
respecting German, would buy.  They ship that blended, 
Halb Trocken crap, that is below even "Taffle Wine" 
quality, and has no predikat, to the USA,
where igoornant (sp-int.) Auslanders ( German for foreigners) 
"acquire" a taste for it!  Ugh!

        Other than the entertainment on wines, his service 
was perfect.  Hell, I couldn't even light Lynn's cigarette 
or mine.  The food was the best we've had since returning 
to the states.  We had Shrimp Scampi with scallops,
that had a side of spaghetti with sauce that was to-die-for. 

        In short, we dined with the crowds inches away, at 
a table by the river, with the excitement and mood lights 
swirling around us like a panorama of life, in our own 
glowing island of conversation. 

        I remembered why I married Lynn that night.  
 dg