Day 2--Eiffel Tower



We only had to cross one street and walk about half a block to come to the top of a large park called Parc du Champs de Mars. The Eiffel Tower stood on the opposite end of the park.

You have no idea how huge the tower is until you actually see it. It is so large that if you stare at it while walking, it doesn't seem to get any closer. Doing this also made me quite dizzy so I had to stop. The metal work is also more ornamental then you might expect, which you can see it greater detail the closer you get.

Once we got closer we went underneath to get a ticket up one of the four pillars. Only one pillar was open that first day, and only two of the three observation decks were open because it was an overcast day. We opted to purchase a ticket to the first level only and perhaps take the option to go higher another day. As it worked out, we never did go any higher, but I enjoyed the time I spent on the Eiffel Tower and the view I could see from there.

From the first observation deck we could get a view of most of Paris. We walked all the way around and took some pictures, but this one is my favorite of that group, a carousel by the river Seine. After leaving the tower we walked down there and took in a river view from the bridge.



We would have walked further, but we were completely exhausted and freezing cold, so we started back to the hotel. On our way, we ran into many street vendors trying to sell us souvenir Eiffel Towers for twenty Euros! That seemed like such a rip off, so we turned everyone down and walked on. Just as we were starting our way back across the Champs de Mars we saw another group of men coming towards us with their overpriced souvenir crap, but before they got to us we heard running footsteps behind us and the vendors turned and ran like mad across the park. Two foot policemen ran past us and chased after them. We were pleased, but they didn't get caught. Apparently, selling cheap souvenir crap in the park is illegal. And unfortunately when we reached the other end of the park the vendors were there and did try to sell us some. Thankfully they were easily shaken off, but where are the police when you need them? We went back to the hotel to see if our rooms was ready. After waiting for about fifteen minutes we were permitted to check in and then we crashed and slept for about two hours. It was heavenly!



Once we had rested sufficiently we left the hotel, crossed the street and shopped for some groceries to keep in our hotel room. There was a small refrigerator in our room so we purchased some things to snack on and some bottled water. I'm sure drinking it out of the tap would have been fine, but bottled water was cheap and easy to carry around during sightseeing. We also bought some chocolate to sample, of course. We came back to the hotel and ate some of our food, some bread and cheese, juice, and the chocolate. It was great to sample some French food, although simple, but hit the spot perfectly.



By now it was dark outside and there wasn't really anywhere for us to go, so we just wandered the streets near out hotel and looked around, getting used to the whole atmosphere of the place. Nearby we found the Hotel des Invalides, which used to be an old hospital for veterans. Now it houses the tomb of Napoleon. The building is white, but has a brilliant gold dome which is really pretty lit up at night. Then we walked back near the Champs de Mars to get a night view of the Eiffel Tower. They light it up at night and at the very top a light beam swings around. We sat near the column of an old building and just talked and watched the Eiffel Tower at night. It was relaxing and fun. Then we returned to the hotel to rest for the night and prepare for the next day, our first whole day of sightseeing in Paris.

On our last day in Paris we return to the Eiffel Tower to take a few more pictures. This one shows me in front of it, see what a beautiful day it was? The only problem was the sun was so bright it was burning my eyes, so this picture didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. No matter!