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Published: September 24th 2008
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Paris
Looking eastwards from the top level, some 276 metres high up, with Église du Dome (Dôme Church) in the centre. An early start today, as we were in Paris for the whole day, and we could do what we wanted. We were dropped off at the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel). The Eiffel Tower stands 324 metres high, and was designed by Gustave Eiffel, in 1889. It was the world's tallest building until 1931.
I wanted to climb this at first, though slowly changed my mind thinking that if I climbed the 360 steps to the first level, then another 359 steps to the second level, then perhaps I wouldn't feel like doing much else that day, so decided the lifts would be better. I was with Kylie and Jo, who was keeping an eye out for her friend Josh, who she said she tries to keep in touch with throughout her time in Europe. She was to meet him at the Eiffel Tower this morning, but he wasn't there.
We decided to buy our tickets for the ascent up the tower so joined the queues. It was only about a ten-minute wait, and in that time, Josh had arrived, so he was in the queue a way back from us. Jo said we'd meet him at the top of
Paris
Looking south-east, down the Parc du Champs de Mars. the tower. After purchasing the €10,40 ticket and going through security checks we got the two lifts up to the top of the tower.
It was amazing. I didn't think the view would've been so wide. We could see for miles, though as it was a hazy day, we couldn't see some of the listed sights. I was looking south-easterly for the Stadt de France, Paris St. Germain's stadium, but couldn't see it. Jo finally got to speak with Josh, and we were introduced. We all took some photos, before making our way down to the second level, where we again took some more photos and had a look round the shop. There wasn't anything really special there, though a few of us bought a nice black and white print of the tower. I'd never seen it before, and liked it enough to buy it. I also noticed there was a commemorative coin at the cash desk with the tower on it, so bought that too.
We made our way down the tower via the lift again, and then walked along Avenue d'Iena to the Arc de Triomphe, which was situated at Place Charles de Gaulle. The Arc
Paris
Looking north-east, Palais de la Découverte in centre. Champs-Elysées runs alongside here from left to right. de Triomphe was completed in 1836 and stands 50 metres high. As yesterday, it was still busy, and though we waited for around seven or so minutes, no accidents happened. Earlier yesterday evening, Paul had told us that there's an accident there every seven minutes!
We then continued down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, where we went into some of the clothes shops and then had baguettes for lunch. It's quite an exclusive thing to say you've eaten along the Champs-Elysées, as most restaurants charge extra for eating outside along the road. Luckily we didn't have to pay extra though. We passed a large Louis Vutton shop, which had a large 30 or 40ft-high handbag as the entrance to the shop. The two girls just had to have their photos with that.
We then crossed the Pont Alexandre III bridge, passing Les Invalides, home of the Hotel des Invalides and the Eglise du Dome (Dôme Church), where Napoleon’s tomb is situated. We carried on past Assemblée Nationale Palais-Bourbon, which is home to the lower house of the French Parliament since 1830, and Musée d'Orsay, as we strolled along the Seine, towards Notre-Dame. The Musée d'Orsay was originally Orléans railway
Paris
Looking south-west, onto River Seine. Statue de la Liberté can be seen at the far end of the island in the Seine. station until 1939, when it was converted to an art gallery. This gallery is now home to paintings by the likes of Van Gogh, Dégas and Monet. As we walked further along the Seine, we passed many little market stalls, selling paintings and books, which were quaint and not like typical market stalls.
We passed Institute de France, and Musée du Louvre on the other side of the Seine, before crossing back over on the Pont St-Michel, to Notre-Dame.
Notre-Dame was built on the original site of a Roman temple. The first stone was laid in 1163, and it was completed some 200 years later. The Architect Viollet-le-Duc designed the impressive spire back in the 19th century.
The cathedral was an amazing sight - a breathtaking place. Kylie had gone off taking photos and Jo and Josh were behind, so I went off on my own too. There were quite a few people though who kept talking as they strolled round. I always keep quiet when I enter those places, just out of respect that's all. I took quite a few photos in here, though they didn't come out at all well for some reason.
I
Paris
Looking north-west, towards the Palais de Chaillot, the Trocadéro Fountains and Jardins du Trocadéro. was in there for around an hour, and waited at the exit for the others to finish their strolls round. Outside, it was very warm, so I stood in some shade. Ten minutes later and everyone was out. However, this would be when we split up again, as Jo and Josh were going to climb the steps of Notre-Dame, and up to the tower. Kylie and I decided we'd not do that, and that we'd make our way back to the Obélisque, on the Place de la Concorde, which is where we would pick the coach up at 5pm.
We were thinking about catching a bus there, as we didn't think there would be enough time, but we didn't spot the bus we needed, as we walked along Rue de Rivoli. We passed the Musée du Louvre, home to Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa', before walking through the Place du Carrousel, and over to the Pyramide. The Pyramide is a clear glass structure which is a secondary entrance to the lower levels of the Louvre, and also which allows light into the lower levels of the building.
Also here was a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe, called
Paris
Me on the 2nd level, 115 metres high up, with the Seine and Palais de la Découverte in the background. Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. This was built to celebrate the various military triumphs, including the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.
The final leg of our walk was through the lovely Jardin des Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde. These gardens were laid in the 17th century, and seemed very popular and picturesque. It completed what was to be my favourite day of the entire tour.
We then waited for around ten minutes at the Place de la Concorde, home to the 3,200-year-old Obélisque, which was a gift from the King Luis-Philippe of Egypt back in the early 1800's.
This evening we all went for our optional meal at Le Jeues De Jeanette, where I had l'escargots for starters, and duck in orange sauce. After this, some of the others went on to their Moulin Rouge show, which was just a short walk from the restaurant.
The Moulin Rouge was built in 1885, and was turned into a dance hall in 1900. It is world famous for its wild and colourful cancan shows. Any of the others that didn't go, could either go to the Irish bar nearly next door to the Moulin Rouge, on
Paris
Standing underneath the Tour Eiffel. Boulevard de Clichy, or the Australian bar just around the corner. I decided on the Irish bar, and was joined a bit later by Raz, an Aussie girl from Melbourne. We enjoyed a few drinks there until 11pm, which is when we were to be picked up. However, Craig was delayed so we had to wait outside the Moulin Rouge, at Place Blanche, for a little while. The Aussies had had quite a bit to drink and were singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ out aloud. It was quite funny seeing the reactions of all the locals.
Craig finally arrived and we piled onto the coach, and waited for the Moulin Rouger's to come out. After ten minutes or so they came out onto the coach. It must have been a good show, as Kylie came out and sat next to me on the way back to the campsite, and was positively brimming with excitement about how good the night had been. I wish I'd gone and seen it now!
On arrival back at the campsite, we all again made our way to the bar, but only for a couple of drinks as it was an early start tomorrow morning as
Paris
What an Eiffel! 324 metres high. we departed for Lyon, and the Beaujolais wine region.
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Les
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Lucky at Eiffel Tower
You really got to the top of the tower fast. My wife and I did the towere in April and it took 4 hours total time to get to the top and back down in the late afternoon. The line to the ticket window was short but after that it was very crowded in the lift lobbies. I am writing a do it yourself travel blog at http://diytraveleurope.blogspot.com/