Eiffel Tower

Day 7

August 9

To be honest with you, this is the day I have been waiting for the most while visiting Paris. I really wanted to have an up close look at the Eiffel Tower in daylight and night light. We had reservations for 10:00. Not knowing how long it might take us to get to that part of town, we left rather early. The girls had plenty of time to run around and get their wiggles out. It was here that I noticed the most gypsies. They carried around clipboard and would ask you to sign something. It was a way to distract someone. Tanya had warned us about this technique, so we just shooed them away. It was interesting to see them scatter when police showed up.

The beginning of the day was overcast and gloomy which makes picture taking a littler harder to get a good picture. I took a few shots anyway.


This shows the staircase we could have taken.



The sun started braking through the clouds. I wondered how the elevator would work. As you can see, it is two parts and goes on a slant.



Waiting for our turn to line up.

The next few pictures are view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.

If you look at the far end of the little island you can find a miniature Statue of Liberty.

It was really cold and windy at the top.

The sun finally came out and we had beautiful blue skies.

I don't think Wayne got to sweaty standing on this level while looking out at the city.

I need to find out why these names are on the tower.

We ate lunch at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

Our next stop for the day was the Arc de Tromphe. It is really majestic. There are twelve streets that start at its base. The street is just a big circle (roundabout) and there are no lines to help the traffic stay under control. Several people tried running across. That's not the safest way. There is actually a passageway underground to help you get to the island in the middle of the street.

The architecture is very cool.

We took turns climbing to the top. First is was Tim and myself. Wayne and Tanya weren't sure they wanted to climb. Once we were down we told them how neat it was on top so they took Marisa and climbed the stairs.

This is Avenue des Champs Elysees.

This view definitely shows the more modern part of Paris.

As we walked down Champs I saw this telephone. It looks a lot different from the cute red ones in London.

I also spotted this and thought of Steamboat Springs. It was a word we used quite often that week.

We eventually got to the Tuileries Garden by the Louvre. It had a fun playground. Marisa was daring and tried the ropes. After this Tim and Tanya took the kids back to the apartment.

Wayne and I saw a few more sights. This is Napoleon's Tomb. It is housed in the beautiful Hotel des Invalides. We have been able to see this round dome around the city. Our riverboat trip pointed it out and we could see it from Eiffel Tower.

It is also a military museum. The dome is really pretty.

We found lovely flower gardens as well.

This is really a great bridge.

From this bridge you could also see the Eiffel Tower.