Thursday, September 24, 2015

Day 266: Touring Paris

This morning Maddie woke up fairly early. We finally got ourselves ready and made our way out to explore. We found a small bakery and got breakfast and then walked to the Louvre. 

We explored the grounds of the Louvre and took various photos. Although a few of us would love to spend the day exploring inside, we found a hop on hop off bus and began our tour. 
We rode around and stopped at the Notre Dome, Arc de Triomphe, the National Opera House of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower. We didn't get off the bus at any location other than the Eiffel Tower. We loved walking around it and posing for various pictures. 
Arc de Triomphe
Opera House
The Eiffel Tower

We wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower but we weren't sure how long it would take (some lines were extremely long). Well, when we found a short line were we could purchase tickets, we went ahead and bought them for the whole way up. We decided to walk to the second level and then go from there. How many steps does it take to get to the second level anyways? 670. Six. Hundred. And. Seventy ever loving miserable steps. All the while, Daniel and I was carrying Maddie up. She refuses to support herself and is dead wait. 

Once we made it to the second level we got in a line for the elevators. Those would take us the rest of the way up. When we got to the top we looked all around and took it all in. It was truly an amazing site. Also, thanks to a toddler with a tiny bladder, I can now say that I've used the bathroom at the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

After numerous pictures and telescope fun, we headed back down to the bottom. We went down all of those steps again. Thankfully, going down isn't nearly as bad as going up (even while carrying a 30 pound sack of taters- aka - Maddie. 
From the very top, I realize just how large Paris is!
Once down we took some more pictures and made our way back to the bus and finished that tour. When we stopped at the point where we had begun, we got off and enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner. 
Daniel took this great photo from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. This was pretty cool!
We enjoyed some bread and sandwiches. The kids had hotdogs smothered in cheese. Lunch was delicious and everyone left content. 

Afterwards, we went back to the bus and partook in a different tour. This time, we went to other popular areas, but the ones you don't necessarily see without looking for them. 
This is the only "G" rated photo of this street. 

Once we finished that tour we went back to the popular like and caught the bus back to the Arc de Triomph and walked from there to the Eiffel Tower (25 minutes). 

We were trying to make it to the bus to catch the last stop, but we missed it. So instead, we enjoyed dinner by the Eiffel Tower and caught the light show. 
This is when the Eiffel Tower was "sparking" as Maddie called it. 

We then looked around at various souvenirs and decided to walk back through the Eiffel Tower and to the metro. 
From the bottom as it was lit up. 
We had no idea what to expect on the metro but we eventually found it and mastered our way to our apartment. 

Alayna began to pack up and I got the kids ready for bed. Maddie loved the shower and wanted to stay in there. 

We finally turned in around midnight. It's been a long day but we're looking forward to tomorrow!

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