Today’s itinerary: Musee d’Orsay, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower
The Museum was our first stop. We ate eclairs before going in (FABF had bought some at the corner bakery before we set out for the museum). It’s yet another really coolbuilding, a former train station. It’s also where you’ll find Whistler’s Mother, which is a much larger painting that I’d expected. I also liked this Van Gogh.
Lunch was from a little cafe nearby. There were several places we could have eaten on this street.
After lunch, we walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. Really impressive building, but lots and lots of tourists (to a really obnoxious degree), so it’s hard to enjoy (yeah, I know…).
We made an emergency ice cream stop at the Champs Elysees (don’t ask), then went on to the Eiffel Tower. It’s really cool to get there via Metro, because you get out uphill from the tower.
The most amusing/annoying part of the visit is that there are hundreds of vendors hawking Tower souvenirs. Blinky towers, towers of various sizes, and tower keychains. When we arrived that afternoon, the police were watching out for vendors, so they’d run around a corner and down some steps. When we arrived, we could see them peeking over the side of the steps, hoping for the cops to leave. As we walked down the steps, they offered us their wares. Some were more persistent than others, but we managed to make it through all of them without buying anything.
When we got to the tower, we saw that there was a really really long line…for the elevator. (You can’t see the line in the picture, but you can get an idea of the crowds.) We looked over to where the entrance to the stairs was and…no line. I wasn’t all excited about climbing that many stairs, but the kids were really enthusiastic, so up we went. This was probably our best decision the whole time.
You can only climb to the second level (it’s about 700 steps up; you can also pay to take the elevator from there to the top), but that gives you a really good view of the whole city. It was really hot on the way up, but once we got there, there were beautiful views over the city.
The really cool thing about climbing is that you can admire the structure of the tower from close up. You also see Paris from a great variety of angles. Look! Proof I was in the stairs! What I especially liked about this level was that you could still see a lot of the detail of the city and recognize all of the landmarks.
Tonight I’ll add a bit about our stop at the site of the battle of Verdun, but for those of you who aren’t around on the weekend, here’s a link to the pics. Also, if you didn’t see them, you have to admire the baby wild boars.
And the luggage? When we got back to the hotel after climbing the tower, the clerk at the hotel desk proudly pointed to the luggage holding area. My suitcase had finally arrived! My goddaughter cleverly pointed out that my luggage was with me for less than half my vacation. 
Gotta get to work… It’s Firday!!!
(Sorry I haven’t read the latest posts - hugs to all)
GT
