We made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower!!
No, we did not get up early. A relaxing morning was just too good to pass up. After a late brunch at Cafe Carette in Trocadero again we walked down to the Tower. The line for tickets to walk up the stairs was pretty short--about 15 min.
We climbed the 670 stairs in about 20 minutes. At the second level we couldn't find a ticket kiosk open for the elevator to the top. We were thinking, we'd have to skip the top.
But the kids were super disappointed so we set out to find more information. Found that the kiosks close when too many people are at the top. And open once it clears out. So we waited in a very short line that got very long behind us. Sure enough, 30 min. later the kiosk opened and we got tickets and headed up the elevator to the top--no additional waiting needed.
From the top we took the elevator back down to level 2 and then ran down the stairs to the bottom. Legs felt like jello at the bottom.
We were thrilled once we made it to the subway and could sit a minute. Super long elevator to the platform -- at least 2 stories -- and no kidding, the minute I stepped on it stopped dead. We had to walk up. Seriously have gotten lots of stair exercise.
We visited a monument to the Bastille and then walked over to Ile de St Louis for lunch. We love this quaint, quiet area just south of the Notre Dame. Cute shops, sidewalk restaurants facing the Notre Dame, lots of creperies and ice cream shops.
Also one of my favorite shops that I wanted to buy a vase at last time but didn't and then regretted it. They didn't have vases this time, but I bought an Eiffel Tower that I'm super happy about.
It's amazing how lunch gives everyone a good pick-me-up and energy to continue sightseeing. We chose to just enjoy the Notre Dame with its flying buttresses and gargoyles from the outside. Even Nick didn't want to climb the stairs to the top.
Enjoyed the booksellers along the Seine, the lovers bridge with all their locks of love, and a movie filming in the works.
We could have enjoyed the outside of the Louvre a bit more, but Nick was in dire need of a WC so we ran in to the glass pyramid (bypassing the lines with our Museum Pass) and straight to the facilities.
At the Mona Lisa, Marty wondered about the guy who spent his life painting this mural with only one or two people interested.
And then across the room Da Vinci's painting that he whipped out in an hour gets all the lookers.
Kind of reminds me of a Reflections project he got first place in for a five-minute project painting a baseboard 4 blocks of colors and the 3rd grader with a sculpture masterpiece got overlooked.
We are back at our hotel now. The little boys and Dan are swimming again. Courtney and I are laying on my bed blogging and listening to music. Marty is having some quality alone time. Is 8:30 and although I was worried about having fun activities to do in the evening, everyone wants to just hang out at home and relax. Sounds great to all of us. Especially my feet.
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1 comment:
Your evenings sound like every Monday for us in Belgium. We'd wear ourselves ragged all weekend seeing everything we possible could and then Monday would be our day to chill, blog, play electronics without guilt, and watch the BBC. Ahhhh. I loved Mondays. Nice to be worn out from making lots of fun memories with family, then take a day to recoup!
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