Day four demanded a small break.  We had been go-go-go since we arrived in Paris, and since it was Thanksgiving Day, we decided to take it a bit easier today.  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then headed out of the apartment at 1 p.m.

Today, our only plan was the Eiffel Tower, which happens to be in one of the nicest neighborhoods of Paris.  So we thought that area would be a fun place to find a somewhat-Thanksgivingy meal.

We didn’t necessarily find traditional Thanksgiving food, but we did find deliciousness.  Rue Cler is a quaint walking street, full of great cafés, markets, patisseries, and chocolateries.

So Thanksgiving lunch was at Café Central, an adorable little corner café filled with locals and American expats.  I had the best soup I’ve ever had in. my. life.  French onion soup (except there, it’s just “onion soup” — kinda like Chinese food is just “food” in China) with crusty bread at the bottom, amazing broth and sweet onions, and a one inch-thick lid of cheese in a individual tureen.  I finished it, not sure if I could tackle the next course.

I could at least eat a few bites, though.  My cobb salad came, and it had bacon, avacado, and turkey.  There was my Thanksgiving turkey.  All these ingredients are very hard to find where we live, so I was in hog (ha! get it?) heaven.

Kabob had lamb, but it was prepared very differently than it is where we live.  I sampled a bit, and it didn’t taste gamey at all, which is why I usually don’t like lamb.

The kids shared an enormous helping of spaghetti, which was very tasty.  Worth the 9 euros.

(By the way, I’ll interject here and state that I found every French waiter — and almost all French people — extremely friendly and gracious.  I didn’t experience the stereotype at all.  It could be because we were coming from our particular country, and not from the States, where people tend to be friendly in an overkill sort of way.  I’d say France lies somewhere between the States and our current country in terms of friendliness to strangers.  I thoroughly enjoyed the French people.)

Anyway, so after lunch, we wandered and window shopped, and then slowly sauntered to the Eiffel Tower.  This was something I sorta prepared for disappointment, so my expectations were actually exceeded.  Many French find it ugly.  I find it fascinating.

The lines to go up the Tower were outrageous.  We stood in line for what felt like hours, and it was crazy windy.  I prepared myself for some killer weather up top.

We finally got in the elevator and went up to the second level.  You buy tickets to go to the top on the second level, for an additional 5 euros each.  Once we were there, we felt how high we already were.  The views of Paris from there were fantastic, as was the insane wind and rain.  And the crowds.  We stood out on the second floor, took the customary photos and watched the Tower sparkle with Christmas lights, and then headed inside to warmth and crowdedness.

We thought about going to the top, but ultimately decided against it.  At this point, it was night, we were already tired and cold, and felt like it would be more fun if it was just us grownups.  So we got in line to go back down.  We’ll do it next time.

While in line, we chatted with some people from New York behind us (or as Chickpea says, “Yew Nork”).  She became BFFs with their 10-year-old girl, Carrie, and continues to pray for her nightly.

We took the metro back to the apartment, where we Skyped with both sides of our family for two hours.  This meant that the kids were deliriously tired, and eventually passed out at 11 p.m.

It was a fun day, but knew we needed to get good rest for tomorrow’s adventure.

posted: 09 December 3
under: family, paris, travel