A Day of New Heights

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We took our favourite mode of transport, the Batobus, to the Le Tour Eiffel this morning. To avoid the hour-long line for the elevator we hiked up the 300+ stairs to the first level. John was cool as a cucumber but I must say I felt a tad nauseaus as we ascended the iron staircase!

The view was spectacular as today is sunny with not a cloud in the sky. John convinced me to take the elevator to the next platform and I'm glad he did - it was gorgeous! We then came back down and asked someone to take the obligatory romantic photo of us in fornt of the Eiffel Tower. Being a girl, I've always dreamt of having such a photo with the one I love so John persevered through the sappiness.

We took the Batobus back to Le Jardin des Tuilieries and had lunch in the garden. John had a croque monsieur and I a baguette and chardonnay (of course!). On the walk back to our hotel we spontaneously stopped for a ride on the ferris wheel outside our room. It seems there is an annual, summer-long "fete" in the Tuilieries gardens and up until today I mocked it but the ride was a good laugh - it's nice to act like kids again sometimes.

We just got back from the "grands magasins" b/c since we've arrived I've had it in my head that I wanted to buy a watch while we were here. This was partly b/c I think John is tired of me always asking "what time is it" and partly b/c I thought if I got one here then every time I looked at the time back home I would always remember our time in Paris. Soooo.....we opted to take the Metro for the first time b/c we've been walking for days. It was very exciting when we arrived at "Galleries Layfayette" b/c there were "soldes" signs everywhere. Apparently, July is sale month in Paris. C'est tres bon! I found a lovely little Tissot that didn't cost a thousand euros like some of the chi chi watches behind the counter and I executed the whole sale in french! AND the sizing of it too. I probably sounded retarded to the salesperson b/c there was a lot of pointing and grunting but all in all, it went ok. John and I have actually been doing quite well with the french thing. Most people speak english but some can't be bothered (and claim they speak un petite peu francaise) so when you're forced to communicate you just do. It will surely be different in Italy though b/c I at least only know "bella" and "vino" and unless John is hiding something from me, I don't think he's up on his italian either. Might be a bit of a problem. Oh well - that's still over a week away.

One observation about Paris' underground vs. London's - it's icky. On the way we had some old french guy singing in...well...french and on the way back some hurly burly white guy with dreadlocks who changed cars every time we stopped at a station.

Speaking of the London underground, we heard there were more explosions there today. This makes John and I very happy to be leaving for the quieter land of southern France. Our train leaves from Paris' Garde de Lyon for Avignon tomorrow at 11:20am.

Tonight we're going to the Italian place we hunted for last night in the St. Germain area (yes, we LOVE that area and it's a lovely walk over and along the Seine). Then packing and getting ready for destination numero trois - Provence.

Miss you all!

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