Who knew that the hardest thing to do in a French restaurant is to get a carafe of tap water AND wine served at the same meal? Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Turns out, it has been the most difficult aspect of our dining experiences.

Our first few days in Paris, we carried a water bottle with us, but it became cumbersome and so we stopped. And so when we would stop for lunch or a mid-afternoon beverage, we’d order a carafe of water to quench our thirst, no need to spend 5 euro on bottled water - the water in Paris is actually quite good, and a carafe of the house wine.

Wine is promptly served and it seems that once you have your wine, why would you want water?
 

Now I want to assure you, we aren’t those folks that ask for water and waste it. Whenever we were served water we have consumed every last drop. (You get pretty thirsty walking through the gorgeous-ness that is Paris.)
I asked friends how do go about it and was told by more than one, you have to order “Un carafe d’eau, s’il vous plait,” when they seat you and deliver the menus. So the next time, we tried that…to no avail.

Was it my French? Next I tried carafe of water, s’il vous plait. Sometime we'd get the carafe of water and no wine. Next we tried, “Tap water please,” still with mixed results, sometimes only getting a wine glass with the wine and just a carafe of water. Only a few times would a carafe of water be served before the wine or shortly after, with glasses for both.

If you know the French secret of getting water and wine, please let me know. We still have a few weeks to practice.