Paris Day 1 - The Eiffel Tower

After chowing down on our bread, we hopped on the Metro (love it!) and went down to get our museum passes and metro passes from the Expedia office (my brother-in-law was so smart and ordered so many things ahead of time so all we had to do was pick them up). Imagine my surprise when we came out of the Subway and were staring at the Louvre! 

However, that was not our Louvre day, so we strolled through the Tuileries Gardens and headed for the Seine River.

(left to right) Shad, Chris and Julie in the Tuileries Gardens 

(I think the building in the right corner is the Louvre)

Here is the Seine with Notre Dame Cathedral just to the left of the center of the photo.

Me, taking a picture of Julie and Chris.

Don't you just love my head-wrap. We had thought we'd just head down to the Expedia office and then go back to the hotel to actually get Shad's and my luggage into our own room. Once we realized how close the office was to everything, we decided to do some sight-seeing. I had packed my coat, gloves, scarf, and ear goodie (yes - that is its technical name) in my suitcase so that I wouldn't have to mess with it on the plane. It was very cold in Paris (about 45 on our first day - the warmest one we had) and we were chilly. My ears are incredibly sensitive to cold (I get sick to my stomach from pain if they get too cold) and so my sister was kind enough to lend me her scarf (hand knitted/crocheted by our step-mom) so that I could cover my ears.

We could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance and we decided to walk to it. We kept walking and walking and walking. 

Julie kept saying, "I don't think it's getting any closer."

We ignored her and kept walking.

Along the way, we passed this funky building. Plants were actually growing all over its walls.

We finally reached the Eiffel Tower.

Proof that Shad was actually there. 

He's usually the man behind the camera, so you won't see him in many of the pictures.

We climbed to the second floor.

668 steps, but who's counting?!

(We actually didn't have to count, they had the number of stairs you'd climbed stenciled at the top of each flight.)

Then we took the elevator to the top.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go, as I'm afraid of heights, but then Shad reminded me that I'd never have this chance again.

 Here we are in the elevator.

Talk about sardines in a can. 

The elevator operator looked incredibly bored. 

I'm glad I don't have his job. 

Up and down, up and down, all day long. 

I'd get motion sick!

The view from the second floor had been great, but the view from the top was breathtaking!

That's the Arc de Triomphe in the center.

We had to take this next picture for Laura, our belly button enthusiast!

By the time we got back down to the second story and climbed down the 668 steps, the sun was setting.

And we were starving! It was only 5:00 p.m. Paris time and restaurants in Paris don't start serving dinner until 7:30 p.m. We could NOT wait. We found a cafe around the corner from the Eiffel Tower and had one of the worst meals ever. My chicken was so dry I actually started choking because I couldn't swallow it.

 Thankfully I was able to recover and when we left the restaurant we were greeted by this...

The Eiffel Tower is lit up every night and, on the hour, there's a Light Show. 

I took a video of it, but I had forgotten that you can't rotate videos so you'll have to turn your head sideways to enjoy the full effect of the show.

We found a Metro station and headed back to the hotel. After a smidge of unpacking, we headed down the street to what would become our favorite eatery in Paris, the Creperie Ty Yann, for some dessert. I had a lemon crepe and Shad discovered the Number 31 - crepe, vanilla ice cream, bananas, and chocolate sauce. It would become his nightly special. I think one of my fondest memories of Paris will be of that little Creperie, but more of that later.