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| OMG - the Eiffel Tower!!! |
The one place I absolutely insisted that Bill and I visit while living in Europe was Paris. And the one place Bill really didn't have any desire to visit was Paris. Guess who got her wish! :-)
We spent a long, rainy weekend in Paris and we both (yes, even Bill) had a terrific time. We arrived via train which took about two hours from London. The train spent about 45 minutes in England, and only about 15 minutes going through the chunnel. I was expecting to be underground for a very long time, but when we popped out of a tunnel, a couple of travelers a few rows up popped a bottle of champagne. Bill and I checked our phones, and sure enough, we were in France. Bonjour!
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| Proof we were both there :-) |
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| I was so happy, I almost burst! |
After a short taxi ride to our hotel, we headed off on a 15-minute walk to get up close and personal with the Eiffel Tower. It is pretty amazing how big, sturdy, yet graceful it looks in real life.
As you can tell, the weather was a bit miserable, but we didn't really care. We had fun walking around, practicing our barely-there French. We listened to a Rick Steves podcast on the train over and he said when you walk up to a person in France, say "Bonjour" and wait for their reply of "Bonjour." You may then ask the person "Parlez-vous anglais?" Rick Steves said that even if they don't speak a lick of English, they will be far more inclined to help you. We did this with every single person we spoke to, even if just looking for the toilets or an exit, and by gum, everyone was so friendly and helpful!
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| Garden view of Eiffel Tower |
We spent about an hour walking around the outside of the Tower before locating the restaurant check-in, as we had reservations. We took the elevator up to the first viewing platform and had a wonderful meal of lobster bisque, quail (me) fish (Bill), and a dessert of floating island (me) and creme brulee (Bill). The meal also included a glass of champagne, and two glasses of wine. We were pretty happy when we left the restaurant!
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| Lobster bisque in Eiffel Tower restaurant |
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| Floating island dessert in Eiffel Tower restaurant |
After dinner we were free to check out both the first and second viewing platforms as long as we wanted. Even though it was 9:00PM, we still had great views.
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| View from Eiffel Tower |
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| Another view from Eiffel Tower |
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| Yet another view from Eiffel Tower |
By the time we caught the elevator down, the lights on the tower had been turned on. It was even more beautiful at night!
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| Base of the tower |
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| Eiffel Tower just after sunset |
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| Good night, Eiffel Tower |
And if that weren't enough, it sparkles for 5 minutes at the top of the hour, a few hours each night!
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