Day 6: Together in Paris!

Back by Popular demand!

Today we woke up to an overcast and slightly chilly day. Which was a little sad as we were going to the tops of everything today but oh well. On we go. I think I like the list thing so I will
continue using that technique until I decide otherwise.

First Stop: Arc de Triomphe

Yes, I know what you're thinking. (me in your head) "They were already there yesterday, why would they go there again?" Well, if you recall from the previous post, well not the previous post but the previous post to the previous post (still with me?) I said we had decided to go to the top the next day. We all bought a museum pass, which for 2 days you can go into select sites (there is about 50 listed) for one flat rate and if you use it right it will save you lots of money on entrance fees. So first thing was, since we were there and everything was the top of the Arc. You climb an extremely narrow spiraling staircase with never ending stairs. I had to rest as soon as I got to the top. Oh but wait it's not quite the top, its just the gift shop. Also, the floor was slippery concrete and I slipped and fell going down two little stairs, trying to grab onto a sign to stop my fall but down I went anyway. I picked myself up, slightly embarrassed and found the second set of stairs to get to the real top and even though it was shorter was still a climb. Brief synopsis of hanging out on the top: Picture, Picture, Picture, Finding other buildings in the skyline, Picture, Filming, Picture, doing a little tap dance, Picture, Picture, Picture. It was pretty windy and cold up there, but still fun.

Second Stop: Rushing down the Champs-Elysees

Here we went down the other side of the street to see if there were any cool stores we wanted to see. There was this really cool car dealership that had a funky little sports car in it, but no one's gonna buy it. I don't even think it was for sale, just a model of sorts. We had to rush because we were meeting Celine (foreign exchange student, who stayed with the Jessens around 13 years ago.

Third Stop: Hotel Lescot

We met Celine for lunch and went to this place called The Hippopotamus (it's like the Olive Garden of France). It was pretty good food and Celine spoke French to our waitress but she spoke English too so it didn't really matter. She was really fun to talk to. She is a teacher and was about ready to give birth. We learned a lot about the French school system which was interesting, but I don't really remember to repeat it here. After we finished lunch, Celine left to go pick up her daughter so we said goodbye.

Fourth Stop: Place de Concorde

I loved this square. It is really famous for its fountains and the Obelisk, (miniature lookalike of the Washington Monument). I love fountains so I took lots and lots of pictures of this one. Then we went walking along the streets making our way toward the Eiffel Tower. Melanie wanted to walk down Rue du Clare because she heard it was one of the oldest looking streets. I don't know about that, but it was definitely one of the least touristy streets we went on. Outside markets, pastry shops, and small cafes lined the streets. It was nice just walking along.

Fifth Stop: The Eiffel Tower

Finally the time had arrived to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was really spectacular to see the whole thing from top to bottom as we rounded the bend of the street. We got there pretty early thinking there would be a line for people wanting to be at the top at sunset. So we walked along and took pictures along the way. I have so many pictures of that tower, it's insane. We were such tourists. We would walk a little and take a picture and then walk some more and take a picture. When we got underneath of it and found the line we wanted to go into we saw that there really wasn't a line at all. So we knew we were going to be up at the top for a while if we wanted to get sunset shots. So we headed up. You go on two separate elevators. First one to the second floor and then one to the top. You can choose to just go to the second, third or top floor. There was a bit more of a line to get into the second elevator but that was okay. We still had a nice view of things as we waited.

Once at the top, Melanie and headed straight outside to look out over all of Paris. Jason stayed inside and looked at all the factual stuff that they have in there. Melanie and I probably went around the top at least ten times while we were up there. We got tons and tons of pictures, well at least until my camera died, so I had to depend on Melanie to get some good shots. We just stayed up there forever and it got quite breezy. But we were bound and determined to get some sunset shots. Unfotunately, it was overcast that day and there was no sunset. In the mean time we did take some time to notice that there was some actual historical significance to the tower. They had little wax figures showing the architects designing the tower and things like that. After the sunset we even looked around the inside. But then it was time to descend.

The Eiffel Tower was all lit up now and at the top of every hour it sparkles. So cool. When we were down at the bottom it started to sparkle and I tried to convince everyone to run to the other side of the street to get full shots of the tower while it sparkled but Melanie didn't think we would make it, so I ran by myself with my video camera and made it to the other side and to the top of the pavillion just a few seconds before it turned off and got it on video. Then I waited and caught my breath for Melanie and Jason to catch up to me and take some more pictures. I think we gave plenty of attention to the Eiffel Tower.

So then it was time to go home and rest for the next day, our last day in Paris.