Paris - Ooo la la!
Trip day: 15 / 21
We were up and at 'em early this morning as we had a 9:30 tour booked at the Eiffel Tower. The day was perfect with cool temps, partly cloudy skies, and the promise of the 70s by midday.
We hopped on the Metro (subway) and made our way to meet our tour guide.
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| A replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch |
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| Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center |
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| Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower |
We booked this tour through Viator, and it was terrific. It was a skip-the-line tour, and we did.
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| They are in the process of repainting the tower - they do it every seven years. There are 19 coats of paint on the tower and the extra weight is becoming an issue so they're stripping it as best they can before painting so it is going slow. |
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| The tower's paint color through the years |
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| The elevator to levels one and two is more like a double-decker funicular |
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| These cylinders are counterweights that move up and down as the elevators move down and up |
We waltzed right onto the elevator and were whisked up to the second floor. One odd thing here - floors in France start with zero, so the second floor of the Eiffel Tower is what we would call the third floor in the US.
We opted to see the rest on our own and headed for the elevator to the summit. We walked right on again and soon, we were 280 meters above the Paris skyline.
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| The Tower's gardens, Champs de Mars, and Grand Palais Éphémère |
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| Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte |
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| Looking mostly west down the Seine |
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| We were this high (about 918 feet) |
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| Trocadéro Square and garden |
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Looking north toward the Arc de Triomphe
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| Looking mostly to the east, on the right side, you can see the pyramid entrance to the Louvre |
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| Looking northeast toward the Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre |
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| The Russian Bridge over the Seine |
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| Eiffel built an apartment at the summit and it was the sight of a meeting with Edison |
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| Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral to the east-southeast |
As we made our way down, the lines, even for quick passes were longer. That cemented that our decision to go early and hit the summit early was the right one. We were done in less than an hour and a half and spent plenty of time on each level.
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| Arlona, still being a kid |
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| The view down the elevator track |
Next up was to meet our friend and travel agent, Lisa, and her friend and neighbor Paula. We were meeting up just south of the Arc de Triomphe and boarding the "Bustronome". From their website:
The BUSTRONOME is a high-end double-decker bus that stands out in particular for its panoramic glass roof. He drives its passengers into the Parisian atmosphere in the best conditions whatever the season.
A delightful way to discover food and wine of a cultural capital while visiting its most beautiful monuments. The unprecedented marriage between beauty and pleasure on board this luxury bus-restaurant, an out of the ordinary experience ready to awaken your senses. On board, passengers will discover the most beautiful views in Paris while enjoying the best of its gastronomy.
We drove around Paris, taking in the sights while eating a four-course gourmet meal. What a great way to spend a couple of hours. I didn't get photos of everything since we were moving plus I completely forgot to take a photo of course #3 that featured beef, but here are the photos and a little commentary.
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| On the bus |
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| L-R, Garry, Arlona, Paula, Lisa |
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| Course #1 - salmon gravlax with goat cheese |
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| Course #2 - cod with pea puree |
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| Napoleon's tomb |
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| Napoleon's tomb from the side |
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| Missed course #3 - beef with carrot puree - this is course #4 - a pistachio ice cream with fresh berries |
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| Louvre |
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| Musée d'Orsay |
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| Garry, Arlona, Lisa, Paula |
After a great lunch and tour, we headed across the street to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc sits in the middle of a huge, unlined round-a-bout on the Champs-Élysées. Watching cars go counterclockwise around the circle is amazing. Since there are no lane markings, it is a free-for-all with the only rule being that you move counterclockwise. Cutting across lanes, stopping outright, motorcycles zipping between cars, wow – I can’t believe there aren’t accidents every minute.
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| The eternal flame burning for the unknown soldier |
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Looking northwest along the Champs-Élysées from the Arc |
Some close-ups of the details on both sides of the Arc.
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Looking southeast along the Champs-Élysées from the Arc |
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You never know when the occasional Lamborghini will drive by |
Next up was a trip to the Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre. Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart) sits high above Paris to the north and offers an amazing panoramic view of the city.
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| We exited the Metro and found ourselves at the Moulin Rouge - this is in the heart of the red-light district with the street lined with sex shops - I didn't take photos |
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| Arriving at Sacré Coeur, you are faced with 237 steps up to the Basilica - these steps were featured in an epic fight scene in the latest John Wick movie - John Wick 4 |
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| Steps are for suckers - there is a funicular right next to the stairs - we bought the cheap ticket up - turns out our Metro card would have worked - oh well, we're out 4 euro |
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| The view over the city - there were tons of people here today |
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| You can see some of the crowd over my shoulder |
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| Some fun cars behind the church |
The line was relatively short to go in - perhaps five minutes. There was a "no cameras" sign, but everyone was taking pictures. I'm smart enough to not use flash, so I figured I wasn't hurting anything to grab a few quick photos inside.
For a long time, people scratched their initials into a paddle lock, locked it to a fence by the Seine, and threw the keys into the river so their love would be forever locked. Paris didn't like that tradition and started cutting them off. The tradition moved up to Sacré Coeur. Paris officials aren't too happy about it and plan to take them all off as well. That doesn't stop enterprising Parisians from selling cheesy heart-shaped locks at the base of the steps in front of Sacré Coeur. Here is a photo of a small section of the lock-filled fence.
We decided that we'd had enough for the day and took the Metro back to the hotel, or at least that's what we tried to do. We needed to transfer and when we did, we found ourselves in a square with this cool clock sculpture.
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| It also had this Paris sign - gotta grab a selfie with it |
We found the next Metro station and followed the signs to the #9 train - in the wrong direction. We got off at the next stop, switched sides, and eventually made it back to our hotel area.
As we approached the hotel, Le Rey, where we had dinner last night, was calling to us to stop for a drink. Well, that's what we told ourselves so we stopped.
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| Neither of us was particularly hungry for dinner, so we had drinks and split a bowl of their tasty frites (french fries) as we watched the throngs of people walking, on scooters, cars, and motorcycles, cruising past us on a beautiful Parisian evening |
We walked the few feet back to our hotel and capped off our 14,000-step day around Paris.We're still working on plans for tomorrow and the weather will determine a lot of it. You'll just have to tune in tomorrow to see what happens.
So enjoying your adventures. Paris stays in my heart from 2 visits
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