It's been pointed out to me (Thx, Q!) that I haven't yet shared THE SECRET with you. It's part of my story at le Tour Eiffel.

After climbing over 650 staris up & then the same 650 back down, Nick & I were pretty hungry. We knew we were going to meet up with Holly & Lucia for dinner, but we needed some sort of snack right then. Luckily, there was a snack bar right under the Tower.

Nick got an order of fries & a coffee for himself & offered to buy me a snack. I had my eye on a blueberry muffin, but neither of us had any idea how to say "blueberry muffin" in French. Here's THE SECRET: If you start in French, you can finish in English with an outrageous French accent and you'll get what you want! 8-)

So, instead of saying "petit pain de myrtille", Nick came up with "moo-fenh bloo-beh-hray", much to my surprise. Also, what a surprise (Quel surprise!), the counter girl handed him 1 blueberry muffin, with nary a funny look or word of reproach! It was right at this point that I realized I could just relax in Paris & I'd be fine with or without my friends there as translators.