We pay our euros and start walking up the tower. It's not too bad, we are both in really good shape and had good shoes on. Reach the first floor and continue to the 2nd floor. At this point, you have to buy another ticket to take the elevator to reach the top. After a little confusion with this part, we purchase our ticket and get in line for the elevator. Its all pretty well organized.
We reach the top pretty quickly and were very impressed by the views. It's the tallest structure in the area by far. You can see the Arc, the Louvre, all sorts of bridges, the whole city was spread out below us. And we noticed that there was a triathlon going on in the streets directly below us so that was cool to watch for a little bit. After getting our fill of the view, we took the elevator back to the 2nd floor and decided to grab a snack at the cafe. Brett got a bretzel, which was a sugary donut shaped like a pretzel. Weird but yummy. I got a glass of wine and felt pretty cool sitting on the Eiffel Tower at 9am drinking my wine. The cafe had a swing area set up so we sat and swung and drank. Plus, I gotta say, I looked pretty cool and was comfortable in my Ink N Burn black lace top and capris. I bought them especially to wear in Paris this past spring.
Next we decided to go to the Musee' d'Orsay, which was recommended by several people. Well, it was packed. The whole courtyard, plaza was jammed with people. We decided that we didn't want to spend our day at a crowded museam, which was why we didn't go to the Louvre. We decided to find the Rodin Museum knowing that was a smaller museum, most of which was outside. So, we googled and located it and walked there. But first, we crossed the Lock Bridge and bought a lock, wrote our names on it and tossed the key into the river. I don't think it was the original Lock Bridge but I think the sales guys and tourists just started a new one. We enjoyed our walk to the museum, finding a little store along the way for a baguette and 1e beer for Brett (he's still trying to recoup his 50e loss to the gypsies the night before). The museum was just around the corner and we were very happy to find that it was free admission day! Just making that 50e back a little at a time!
The museum was cool, we liked several of the sculptures but really were impressed by the "Thinker." As a kid, my parents had mini Thinker in their house so to see the original one was a really cool experience.
Next up, we got ourselves to Notre Dame Cathedral! It was packed, as expected, but the line went really fast. It was so beautiful inside and out. The stained glass was insane. I think we both really enjoyed this cathedral. Pictures can't do it justice.
Next we decided to walk to the Louvre, just to take a look around the grounds. Holy cow, it's massive. Unbelievable that it was once a palace, it was HUGE!!! The courtyard wasn't busy but once we walked to the main entrance area, there were lots of tourists around. I checked out the glass pyramid entrance area, imagining the DaVinci Code being filmed here. Alas, I did not see Tom Hanks running around, searching for Mary's bones.....
We grabbed the metro here and returned the to the hotel. It was about 3:00 and we had been going non-stop since before 8:00am. Time to shower and decided dinner. I wanted to take a dinner cruise on the Seine during sunset. So we dressed up a little and went back to the Eiffel Tower as that seemed to be the main place for cruises. We found the docking area and asked every company but everyone was sold out. Totally bummed. But we did find a company that had dinner at their restaurant next to the dock, followed by the 30 mins cruise. So, that's what we did. Our dinner was very good, I had lamb and we split a bottle of wine. We took our time and got on the cruise after we finished eating. I LOVED the cruise! It was too crowded to sit upstairs on the boat so we stayed on the main floor at the back. That worked perfect, not crowded and we got some great pictures.
After the cruise, we walked around a little bit (I played "Mary had a Little Lamb" on the outdoor piano) and made our way up to the Eiffel Tower. But, not before encountering more gypsies playing the 3 shell game. Brett was still steamed about losing this the day before so we just walked up the stairs next to them. Then I thought, hey, that was a funny story and I didn't even get a picture of the event so I'll get a picture of this group playing instead. I get my phone out and start to move to the side to take a picture. The head Cheater notices instantly and completely loses his mind!!!! He starts screaming, flipping me off with both hands and screaming "No Pictures, No F***ING PICTURES!!!!" Whoa, talk about a flip out! I put my phone down (so mad I didn't take the picture) and tell him, "Fine, no pictures" and I turn away. Brett, being the husband he is and still being steamed about the day before, yells back at the guy, telling him not to yell at me and disrespect me. Well, Cheater's friend starts to take a step or two towards Brett but backs away, clearly realizing that he can't afford to get into it with a tourist. Obviously, the shells game is illegal, which is why they didn't want pictures. Well this just gives Brett more confidence and he and Cheater yell back and forth at each other until finally Brett walks away (I had walked away a few minutes earlier, I didn't want to get arrested!). Brett gets to the top of the stairs and starts chanting "USA, USA, USA!!" I'm mortified and pull him away. What a story we have now....So, we walk over to the Eiffel Tower, buy a $30 bottle of wine from some guy walking around with a bucket of wine and plastic cups and find a spot to sit in the grass. The tower is lit up beautifully and even Brett, who didn't even want to come to Paris, admits that it's pretty cool looking. The park was getting very full with other tourists, waiting for the light show that starts at 11:00. We took this time to call the kids really quick and tell them what we were doing. Then, all of a sudden, the tower light show started! Tons of strobe lights going off, up and down the tower. It was amazing and totally gorgeous. I'm so glad that we got to see this, it was really, really neat. A great way to finish off our time in Paris.
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