May 19 Le Jules Verne

Wow, now this was an evening to remember. Reservations for the Jules Verne are tough to get, but I prepared early and got us a reservation. Of course, in the interim, another Ann decided to join us. Luckily, we had no problem extending the reservation. Ann, Roberta,... and Ann, were already there when we arrived. We took a private elevator up in the South Tower. Ira knew all about it, since he had read Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower on the boat crossing over to Europe. So he knew we were going to go sideways before going up.

Three lovely ladies awaited us at a round table. They were all dressed in black, Roberta in an elegant ruffled dress, Ann in a stylish Gautier Eiffel Tower print, and Ann in a dramatic black sheath. The drinking commenced early. And speaking of drinking, we shared two bottles of wine, both suggested by the waiter and they were both delicious. The first was a Pouilly-Fousse. The second, I can't remember because I was a bit tipsy.

The amuse bouche was a salmon soup, tiny slices of salmon and vegetables with a creamy broth poured over them. I started with the lobster, generally not my favorite dish, bur I thought they'd do it right. It was tender and delicious. I then had the lamb with artichokes. While the lamb was delicious, it paled before the mighty artichoke hearts, cooked to perfection.

Dessert was a crunchy chocolate confection, topped with pistachio nuts.

We ate for about three hours, laughing and having a good time. As we were leaving, we noticed a stairwell and asked if we could go down to the observation platform. But, of course! So, we went down among the crowd that was still up there and watched the tower's champagne lights explode around us. That was one of the best parts of the trip!