A few days ago we went to La Tour d’Argent, or the “Tower of Silver.” We entered the tower and were greeted by a woman in a black dress and a man in a suit. The woman took our coats and the man ushered us in to a fancily decorated waiting room. We sat on green chairs and looked around; there were many cool statues of people made of different ordinary and unusual objects mashed together. After 5 minutes the man came back and directed us to the elevator. He directed us by pointing and leaving. We went over to the elevator and pushed the up button. Nothing happened. We pushed it again, still nothing. It was at this point that we entered the minute of 1001 button pushes. Eventually my mom consulted the man, and asked him if he could help us. To which he gallantly replied that it was coming and to be patient. As we waited for the elevator, we noticed that the walls adjacent to us were COVERED, with signed pictures of a myriad of famous personages. There were presidents, actors, actresses, the king of Cambodia, and many others. All had dined here, the 600 year old, tower of silver. FINALLY, the elevator opened at our floor. The woman inside smiled and said, “Bonjour!” before asking which floor we were destined for. We told her the restaurant and up we went on the slowest elevator ever to carry people. Maybe it was just a long way up, but the tower was kind of short, so I was dubious. We arrived at the restaurant and stepped out of the elevator. We thanked the woman and she descended down once more. We were ushered to a table at the window with a breathtaking view of the river and the Isle Saint Louis (home of the delicious Berthillon ice cream) and the Isle de la Cite (home of Notre Dame). A waiter came and plopped a colossal book on to the table, worthy to compete against a wrestling team of 10 dictionaries! This was the never-ending book of…not spells…nor math homework, but wine. My dad told him to choose a champagne and red wine for us, and he bustled off, he was in connoisseur mode. Ten minutes later, (our champagne had arrived but we were going to delay the wine for the main course.), we saw the same server put a bottle of wine on a table with a candle. He then lit the candle, and pulled out some glasses. He then proceeded to pour the wine while holding the bottle over the flame. Apparently this was to make sure that the debris at the bottom of the wine bottle, old as the wine was, did not go in to the glass. We were served course after course. Dish after dish, until we were quite content. In fact they brought out so many courses and surprises, that when we looked at the time we saw that we had been there for over 2 ½ hours! Even though the hype was heaped upon the Tour D’argent, the food was only so-so for all the hype. I did like the tiny little treats and surprises though, and the lime sorbet was amazing! However, our waiter was extremely nice, and we learned that he had two little grandchildren; a boy, and a girl. If I could choose to permanently dine at one kind of restaurant, I would choose a casual family bistro style. Sometimes when you try too hard at something, it turns bad. Family bistros know exactly how far to go. Sorry Tour D’argent, you’re amazing, but I belong with my Parisian bistros.