As soon as they were ready, we went ahead and got breakfast at local chain. I can't remember the name and I sadly forgot to take a picture. But it was very good. I got a croissant (which was amazing; they are so light and flaky in Paris) and an icee of some fruit variety that was definitely a good choice. From there we went ahead and figured out the train system and decided to go straight to the Eiffel Tower. Alice had already been to Paris and seen it, so she decided to head to the Musee d'Art Moderne. So, we all got off at the same stop and just parted ways at the bridge to the Eiffel Tower, so would could cross and she could continue along the road. We both have phones, so we thought it would be easy to just call each other when we're done with the Tower so we can catch up with Alice and go do something else. Later, that proved to be a bit of a problem. Whoops. But before I get to that, we got to see the Eiffel Tower!
It was amazing in person. The wait was rather ridiculous, since we wanted to take the elevator up and not the stairs, but the possible hour or more we stood in line getting harassed by street vendors was worth it. And the tickets were fun too:
In general, the it was spectacular. I never realized how large Paris actually was, once we reached the top (there are 2 floors before going all the way up, just FYI, and even then you still have to go up a couple stairs to see the observation deck, because otherwise you're behind windows, with signs saying where other major cities and countries are, like below:
Insane! And now to end this parenthesis.) and how uniform it is. For a while, I couldn't tell anything apart. Just to give you a glimpse:
And by the way, both the Louvre and Notre Dame are in that picture. I didn't notice it for a the longest time, but just look for the pyramid and and a tall building in the back and maybe you'll see it. In any case, it was worth the amount we paid, which was somewhere around 11E I think, although I may have that wrong, it has been a while since I meant to post this. I do remember my first glass of champagne at the top cost me 10E, which on first thought seemed like a scam, but after Cindy gave me a taste of hers and I thought about it, I decided it was a nice way to celebrate both my trip to Paris, my third grade dream, and my first official glass of champagne. So, I jumped on the bandwagon:
In terms of the other floors, never buy anything in the gift shop, since most it is a scam; the vendors can sell many of those items cheaper, and you'll see them no matter what, so if you really want it, just get it from them. Britt wanted to get some Eiffel Tower key-chains, which they sold 5 for 1E. I got one, so I basically got my souvenir from there for 20 cents. Yay! The only thing I wish we had done was the random exhibit stuff on the first floor, because we skipped through that in order to meet up with Alice quicker. And that took longer than expected. Because I didn't know how to call her Italian phone in France. Whoops. It doesn't help I get a message in French. I don't know French. So, I didn't know that it was asking for me to use a different area code thing. Or whatever. Point is, Alice had to call me, otherwise I had no idea what to do. So, when she did call and we said we'd meet her at the Museum and we couldn't find her in the lobby, we got super confused. And we waited for close to 10 minutes, wondering where she was. We came in a different way, so we didn't know there were TWO entrances. And so, she was there, near the second entrance. Peachy.
Anyways, there were a bunch of skateboarders outside the museum, so walking through them was fun. And it brought back my desire to take up skateboarding again. One day, I will learn how to ride a skateboard, and I'll be as cool as Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. Until then, I'll settle for trying to find hot dogs near the Eiffel Tower in croissant type form. Alice hyped these up for us for awhile, so we went on a hunt for them. As in, searched different signs and looked at what other people were ordering to see if it was the right place. At least I did, I dunno about the others so much. Sadly, we never did find them. Instead, I went with a croque monsieur, which is a sandwich I've wanted to try for a long time. Apparently they're not what I was looking for, but it was still delicious. Alice got a savory crepe, which I ended up finishing for her and was actually one of the reasons I now crave crepes often, while the others got un-croissanted hot dogs.
From there we went to take the train to the Arc de Triomphe, which was beautiful!
We couldn't find a crosswalk to get to the center, so we had to do a mad dash across traffic. I felt like a fool. Especially when I found out that Alice actually knew there were tunnels, only didn't remember for sure where they were. And that if she had, running across like raving loons seemed like a better idea anyways, to HER. In any case, it was breath-taking, staring up into all those details and wondering how anyone could accomplish such feats.
Just amazing. Apparently some sort of ceremony was going on there that day, so we couldn't go around it as much as we had wanted to, but we still got to gaze a lot.
After our mad dash back across the street we shopped (more like window shopped) along the Champs-Elysees, which is one of the most famous roads in the world. It was very pretty and full of expensive stores, like Lacoste and Louis Vuitton. The highlight of this street was going to Promod and getting my pocket watch necklace, which I love, and seeing the Disney Store. I thought of home when I saw it, and after seeing the two floors and how little space there was to move around, I was happy I didn't have to work at that store. It would have been madness.
Moving on, from there we took the train to see Notre Dame, which was again, beautiful. And amazing. I don't think I can get over all the detail work in things like this, because it just leaves you in awe. It was fantastic! I mean, look at this:
It's astounding! And as a whole it's rather fantastic too:
From there we found this cute little park, where we hung out until we could convince Cindy it was not okay for her to take the swing from the small child just so she could have a photo shoot, and then we went walking into the neighborhood that Johnny Depp may live in! Yay! I was pretty happy. And because I didn't want to appear super touristy, I didn't take any pictures. And I didn't see Johnny Depp. So it was a lose-lose. But the area was super pretty. We were all just hungry for dinner by this point, so we started looking for places to eat an actual meal that wouldn't cost way too much. So, after getting side-tracked in the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore, where I had a long debate with myself on whether or not to buy a book, we found a cute place to eat. I ordered the most amazing meal I've had in a long long long time, if not my entire life. It was superbly delicious. We all did the meal for about 16E, that included an appetizer, main course, and dessert. That being said, I had a warm goat cheese salad, roast chicken leg with potatoes, & chocolate soufflé. So decadent. So rich. So MMMM. I'll just say this: I rarely enjoy picking meat off bones, and this meal had me feeling like a vulture because it was so good. Yes, this could be phrased better, but you get the idea.
Moving on, it was time for us to go see the Eiffel Tower at night. And so, we did. It was excellent. We missed the show, or there just wasn't one, so we could only take pictures with its glow, which was still a blast. My favorite picture has me looking like a photoshopped picture:
But whatevs. I was there. And it was cool.
After that, we decided we had to get back since it was getting late and the trains were going to be stopping soon. So we sadly didn't get the opportunity to walk around Monmontre, where Alice has decided she wishes to live one day. And we purposely stayed in the area we did, because it was closer to Monmontre. So here we are, so close to the place she loves, without any time to see it. Why not go tomorrow, you may ask. Well, we had already made plans. Oooh plans, you may say. Yes, I would answer, but they will have to wait for the next entry. Ha ha ha. So, bonsoir ('Good Evening' in French)!
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