La Tour d'Argent

When we arrived back in Paris from our Scandinavian adventure, it was time to tick something off the

list- something that had been on it all year. We decided to book into the oldest restaurant in Paris, La
Tour d’Argent, towards the end of our trip, to use it as an opportunity to reflect on our time here and
celebrate the year that has been.  The restaurant is located just near Pont de Sully, on the left bank,
looking over my all time favourite view of Paris; Ile St Louis and the back of Notre Dame. It is truly
breathtaking. We got dressed in our best Sunday lunch clothes and realised that we were actually
running a little late- not agood look for such a fancy place. Instead of walking the small distance there,
I insisted we hire a bike to make the downhill trip. It had been raining that morning, as it has been for
the whole month it seems. The obvious happened- when riding down the hill, about 5 minutes away
from the restaurant, the back wheel of my bike skidded out from underneath me, and I went sliding
downhill onto the road. Luke heard the scream before he saw what happened, and heaps of tourists
who happened to be on the same street at the same time, all came to check that I was ok. Flustered, and
aware of the fact we were late, I got up and got straight back on ignoring the big black oil marks all
over my cream coloured silk dress.

Despite the false start, the lunch was really incredible. I feared feeling out of place and like we weren’t

rich and/or French enough to be dining there, but the staff were really incredible and were so tentative

it was almost hilarious. We had about 6 different waiters perform difference tasks for us, and no sooner

had our fork hit the plate when we were finished that it was whisked away and another course was put

in front of us. Luke was handed the “wine list” or rather, an encyclopaedia sized book, and we giggled

thinking it was a joke. It was no joke, as we gathered from the deadpan expression on the sommeliers

face. We had a 3-course meal, with mis en bouche and amuse bouches as well a delicious st joseph red

wine. The photos do a better job of describing the meal… a picture is worth a thousand words afterall.

As for the conversation, it was just as lovely as the meal, although probably less sophisticated.

Our table by the window