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I awoke to Seph crawling out of her bed and asking to watch TV – no noise, I really did expect there to be a lot of street noise and rubbish trucks and all the other things you get early in the morning in big cities – I was very pleasantly surprised! Got ready and out the door by 9:30 –
As we waited at a metro stop we talked all together about “the rules” of the subway! These are our contingency plans if we get separated and some get on the train and others miss. We decided the best thing to do was…. If you get on and others miss then you get off at the very next stop and wait. The others will catch up. If you get off and the others don’t –same thing – get on again and get off at the next stop to meet the others. (This is easier than turning around and coming back as you have to go to other platforms and is a real hassle.)
The very next metro change – Hermione got on, the doors shut and we were left there! Thank god we had talked about what to do not 15 minutes before! Nev and I were praying that our system would work! Luckily there is only ever about 3-4 minutes between trains – we leapt on and hoped she had just gone one stop and got off. As we approached the station I was very anxious that she was there – amazingly and thankfully there she was on the platform waiting for us – it worked! She jumped on and we continued our journey! This led to another new rule – if the station is really busy and you can’t see us in the carriage and we can’t see you – wait –we will get off – find you and then get next train!
The Venus de Milo - Very impressive close up!The Louvre -Thought we might beat the crowds but no such luck! We had the obligatory photos by the 2 pyramids nearly touching, through the strict security checkpoint, then off to get tickets. Very smartly the children are free – this really encourages you to bring the children and get them involved in the art world. We jumped onto an English speaking tour, put on our headphones and off we went.
An unbelievable place, it is said if you stop at each piece of art and only spend 60 seconds looking at it, and if you did this 24 hours 7 days a week – it would take you 360 days! One wing is 700m long along the Seine and each wing has 4 levels! There is no way you can try to get through a lot in a few hours or even a day. However we did the whirlwind tour that took on the major sights that we were interested in – Mona Lisa (La Joconde – Da Vinci) the Venus de Milo, The Dying Slave (Michelangelo) and a lot of others. I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it. The highlight was the Mona Lisa – the crowds were huge and you had to fight to get to the front, but it was all worth it. The girls were amazed and thrilled to see this. Seph decided she was smiling – then changed her mind when looked again! I really loved the sculptures, many from around 200BC, the Venus de Milo is impressive. I never considered myself to be into art and a lot of the modern stuff I can’t see why it is so good. However I can see the value in these pieces, it was very worthwhile having a guide to “talk” art and I understood!
On the way to our next stop we passed many street sellers and the girls were enamoured with the Asian man who does the beautiful pictures while writing your name – I remember getting my name done when I was their age in Australia – I know others of you have them too – it is a classic souvenir! Anyway he wanted €5 each but I haggled him down to €6 for 2 – this is before he knows how long their names are! – Hermione felt sorry for him!
Next stop – The Eiffel Tower – A bright sunny day, perfect for viewing! At 2:00 we got there and 1 of the pillars (the other one with a lift) was out of action. (2 of the 4 ‘feet’ are for walking and 2 have lifts.) This made for a really long queue to get to the lift. However we decided to wait – have lunch while in the queue! Seph and I went in search for lunch – chocolate crepes! In the end it took 1:30 hours to get to the lift, going through the security checkpoints and the ticket office included.
Wandering around the Eiffel tower are armed (machine guns) Gendarmerie, protecting the area. I am not sure if I felt safer knowing they were there or worse imagining why they are there!
Finally on our way up – straight to Level 2 where you queue again, for maybe 15 minutes as you change lifts to go to Level 3! Looking out of the lift while going up was a freaky feeling – 276m high. As we got up there the fog started to come in – so disappointing! However you could still make out all the main parts of Paris –just! All of us were just overwhelmed to be standing on the Eiffel Tower – very emotional.
I was also amazed at what you could do up on the platform – restaurants (must be for hire for the very top echelon as it was not open), toilets –which of course you went to as it was a long drop!! Just kidding!
Back we came to level 2 for a good look around – cafeteria, souvenir shops, Bar, post office and ticket booth.
Level 1 was really interesting and vast – heaps of things to do – Cineiffel – movie theatre showing movie about the Tower. Holograms, cafeteria, interesting facts about the tower, a trail for children to follow and complete etc…
By the time we came out of the movie it was getting dark and the lights were coming on, got to see the sunset and the tower lit up at night. We didn’t leave until after 6:30 – we spent just over 3 hours up there!
Back to Montmarte for tea in a little restaurant – French Onion Soup and bruschetta.
Home and straight to bed for the girls – 8:30! Only to find the computer and phone has not been fixed – left another message for them!
I carried on and downloaded photos and writing my diary took over 2 hours!
On the way to our next stop we passed many street sellers and the girls were enamoured with the Asian man who does the beautiful pictures while writing your name – I remember getting my name done when I was their age in Australia – I know others of you have them too – it is a classic souvenir! Anyway he wanted €5 each but I haggled him down to €6 for 2 – this is before he knows how long their names are! – Hermione felt sorry for him!
Next stop – The Eiffel Tower – A bright sunny day, perfect for viewing! At 2:00 we got there and 1 of the pillars (the other one with a lift) was out of action. (2 of the 4 ‘feet’ are for walking and 2 have lifts.) This made for a really long queue to get to the lift. However we decided to wait – have lunch while in the queue! Seph and I went in search for lunch – chocolate crepes! In the end it took 1:30 hours to get to the lift, going through the security checkpoints and the ticket office included.
Wandering around the Eiffel tower are armed (machine guns) Gendarmerie, protecting the area. I am not sure if I felt safer knowing they were there or worse imagining why they are there!
Finally on our way up – straight to Level 2 where you queue again, for maybe 15 minutes as you change lifts to go to Level 3! Looking out of the lift while going up was a freaky feeling – 276m high. As we got up there the fog started to come in – so disappointing! However you could still make out all the main parts of Paris –just! All of us were just overwhelmed to be standing on the Eiffel Tower – very emotional.
I was also amazed at what you could do up on the platform – restaurants (must be for hire for the very top echelon as it was not open), toilets –which of course you went to as it was a long drop!! Just kidding!
Back we came to level 2 for a good look around – cafeteria, souvenir shops, Bar, post office and ticket booth.
Level 1 was really interesting and vast – heaps of things to do – Cineiffel – movie theatre showing movie about the Tower. Holograms, cafeteria, interesting facts about the tower, a trail for children to follow and complete etc…
By the time we came out of the movie it was getting dark and the lights were coming on, got to see the sunset and the tower lit up at night. We didn’t leave until after 6:30 – we spent just over 3 hours up there!
Back to Montmarte for tea in a little restaurant – French Onion Soup and bruschetta.
Home and straight to bed for the girls – 8:30! Only to find the computer and phone has not been fixed – left another message for them!
I carried on and downloaded photos and writing my diary took over 2 hours!
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