My Brother in Paris

The first thing you have to know about my brother's trip to Paris was he proposed to his girlfriend at the Eiffel Tower. We were all in on it and it was totally perfect and romantic and all the things it should have been.
She Was Not Expecting This
The other thing was that we experienced some poor restaurant service, which for me, was a first. For context, we were in touristy areas seeing monuments and having a good time, but it seemed everywhere we went for food we got terrible service.

Now I know that French waiters are salaried and aren't overly attentive. It's rude to offer the check until it's asked for (unless they're familiar with American clients, which is a whole other story), for example. But we just hit a streak of bad luck with restaurant experiences, and it really bummed me out. Come on Paris! One restaurant near the Louvre took so long to take our order, we left. The next had us waiting for our food for a long long time. There was one that dropped the food and never returned to refill water or anything.

Except for this pho place ... omg, it was so good. Two things on the menu. Squished together in a dining room with only five tables. And the Asian ladies next to us encouraging us to use a fork, if we needed it, and add more hot sauce. So fun!


The other thing my brother was flummoxed about was the language barrier. It really threw him. It's embarrassing and stressful to try to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the language and I totally get it. But, months ago, after a few awkward encounters, I just gave up on self judgement when it came to speaking the language. Some interactions are awful, but just laugh it off. That was hard from him to do.

Otherwise, the visit was fun and we saw and did a lot of cool things. Including this Museum of Hunting and Nature ... which was small, totally kitschy and weird.


Good times.

Come to Paris! I'm sure the restaurant service will be better.



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