I'd heard of it, but didn't actually know what it was

I decided I needed to have a relatively relaxing day today. Some people are good at relaxing on vacation, but I'm not really one of those people. I tend to go, go, go. Today I decided I was going to relax. I wanted to have a good lunch a visit the Eiffel Tower. I didn't have a pre-booked ticket to the Eiffel Tower and I thought it would probably be okay, but after yesterday's long wait to get into the Catacombs I was a little nervous. Thus. I went to the Eiffel Tower in the later morning just to check out the ticket situation. You had to go through security first and then you could purchase tickets. It appears in the high season they have 4 areas for ticket sales, but today they only had two: One for the stairs and one for the elevator (also the summit was closed for annual repair work). It looked like I'd have no problem getting a ticket when I was ready to go up so I headed off to find lunch.

My meal. They also served it with a bread
basket.

I had decided I wanted to have some sort of really nice lunch today. When I travel I tend to eat a lot of small dishes, street food and prepared foods from grocery stores in order to help keep the costs down, but I do indulge in special meals here and there. I started wandering into the neighborhoods surrounding the Eiffel Tower looking for a restaurant. Thankfully, everyone here posts their menus outside. I ended up wandering through the neighborhood for about 20 minutes before I found a place that looked like what I wanted to eat (thankfully all the restaurants in this area had English menus as well as French ones so that I could understand the options). I walked in and it was a bit awkward. I wasn't sure of French restaurant etiquette and so I just sort of stood there. The waiter greeted me, but I didn't understand him so I still stood there.

My French onion soup

 Another waiter seemed to realize that I wasn't understanding and said in English, "Only one?" (or something like that) I said yes and he showed me to a table. I suspect the first waiter didn't have any English and that this guy didn't have a lot because another person who I think may have been the manager (based on the fact that he was dressed differently than everyone else and seemed to do a bit of everything) was the only one who served me even though the first waiter was taking care of everyone else in the area. His English, by the way, was really good.
I love French onion soup so that was one of the things I wanted to try in France. I ordered French onion soup as my appetizer and the duck confit. The duck confit came with a salad and something else, I couldn't understand (the translation didn't translate everything). I had heard of duck confit, but I didn't actually know what it was. I knew I liked Peking Duck so I hoped I would like it and I figured that if I didn't, it would still be an experience.
My soup came first (of course). It was delicious! It wasn't the cheesy mess they are in the States. My soup came in a cast iron bowl and had three (or maybe four - in looking at my picture I see that it was five) slices of toasted french bread on top with cheese on each slice. It had an amazing depth of flavors and was so good I would have been pleased with my meal if it had ended there. The waiter who was serving the area asked me what I assumed was are you finished after I had finished my soup and made motions to take it away. I nodded and then he took my bowl and looked towards the guy who I still think is the manager. It rather appeared to be a signal that I was ready for my next course. A few minutes later the manager brought out my main course. It turns out it was the duck confit, a salad and a dish that was a lot like potato wedges. Everything was delicious, but the duck was out of this world! I've never had anything like it. I googled duck confit after I got back to my hotel room. Wikipedia says that it is rubbed with spices and salt-preserved for up to 36 hours and then slowly poached in a low-temperature oven for four to ten hours until meltingly tender. The meat was so tender I actually had trouble picking it up with my fork. I could taste the salt (Wikipedia says prior to cooking the spices are rinsed off and the meat is patted dry) as well as other flavors. I'm really at a loss for words. My lunch was also served with fresh bread which was soft on the inside and wonderfully chewy on the outside. I couldn't finish my meal although I did eat every bite of the duck because it was so incredible I couldn't waste any of it. Afterwards, they asked if I wanted coffee or dessert. I don't like coffee and there was no way I could eat another bite. I walked out of the restaurant reminiscing abou the meal and just savoring what an amazing meal it was.
I've also included pictures of my trip to the Eiffel Tower today. That was a sight to behold.

Every hour for the first five minutes the tower sparkles. You
can't really see it in the pictures although if you look at the dark part
you can see some of it. Yesterday, I saw this from the Arc de
Triomphe at 6 pm. I, therefore, hurried off the tower to get to a
good viewing spot by 6. Tonight it didn't light up at all until about 6:15
and the first "sparkle" was at 7.