Today was all about the Eiffel Tower!

We woke up and made it to breakfast around 6:50am, and then fell took another
nap till about 8:15am :) The Eiffel Tower was open at 9:30am and we wanted to
get there fairly early to avoid any lines. By the time we both got up and ready
it was about 9am and we headed to the metro station. Initially we were thinking
about walking, but after looking at the distance and wanting to get there soon
we decided it wasn't the best option.

We hopped on the metro at Saint Jacques and were headed towards Bel Hakim, which
is the metro closest to the tower. However after reading all the metro lines,
Meredith recognized Trocadero metro. It is where Dawn told us to go to get the
best pictures with the Eiffel Tower. So we stayed on and got off there. We
followed the signs (and the crowd) and found ourselves standing outside in the
middle of two large buildings with the Eiffel Tower centered. It was
breathtaking. It was the first time that we had seen the tower up close, and
although it is not as big as you would imagine it does not disappoint. My whole
room is decorated in travel theme, Paris and the Eiffel Tower so actually seeing
it up close was surreal.

We took about 20,000 pictures at Trocedero. The only thing annoying is all the
vendors all trying to sell you stuff. We just learned to ignore them and not
make eye contact.

Once we felt we had taken enough pictures we started walking towards the tower.
Whicwas only one small park and a bridge away. After reaching the base, we
realized we probably should have came earlier. It was probably about 10am, but
the place was packed! We hadn't bought our tickets to go up the tower ahead of
time, so we got in the LONNNGGG line for tickets. (If you know that you are
visiting Paris and going up the Eiffel Tower, I would definitely recommend
buying your tickets in advanced) .... The line actually moved pretty quickly.
We purchased the youth (ages 12-24) tickets for the 3rd (and highest) level,
for 11.5 Euros.

We then had to wait in another line for the elevator. We eventually got on the
elevator which took us to the second story. And from there we had to get in
another line for the elevator to the very top. This line took FOREVER! I think
it was because there was only two small elevators that reach the top. The
second story was extremely windy and cold. And of course Meredith and I had
dressed for warm weather.

After standing in our third line for about an hour we finally got to the
elevator. At this time, Meredith was freaking out a little bit. Who would have
guessed she was afraid of heights ... I mean for goodness sakes we went
skydiving!

That elevator ride was significantly longer because of how high you were
actually going! We made it to the top balcony and took some more pictures. One
thing Meredith and I have noticed traveling by ourselves, is that we have NO
pictures together. We honestly have about 3 so far this entire trip. So
Meredith was on a mission to get a picture together up there. Her game plan was
to eavesdrop on everyone, and wait until she heard English. Well it couldn't
have worked out any better because the man she eventually asked was a
photographer! And he shoots with my camera (Nikon D90) .... So we got some
really good pictures together :)

We didn't stay on the top deck very long because it was so crowded, so we got
into another line to head down :) (it was honestly, line after line after line)
... This line went a little faster though and took us back to the second story.
Where we ... yup you guessed it! Got into ANOTHER line to go all the way down.
This line went really fast though because the elevators operating from the base
to the second floor are HUGE and fit probably 50 people at a time.

After getting back on the ground we headed towards the Arc de Triomphe (Arc of
Triumph) ... We had seen it from on top of the Eiffel Tower so just started
walking in that general location. It was obvious to tell that we were walking
into the rich part of Paris as we started to see stores like Louis Vuitton, YSL
and Chanel. Eventually we came to Avenue des Champs and directly to our left
and down the boulevard was the Arch.

The Arch is surrounded by a huge 5 lane roundabout and Meredith and I had no
idea how to get across it. Well eventually we figured it out that there are
stairs that lead into a tunnel below the ground, that end with another set of
stairs leading to the Arch. The museum is also underground. It was actually a
really unique way to get there. The Arch was going under renovation/cleaning so
there was a lot of construction and sides blocked off but we got a few good
pictures. We then sat down on the benches and made our lunch. We packed bread,
peanut butter and fruit. It was good except the pigeons kept coming our way,
and Meredith would then just kick at them :)

It was nice to get sit down for a while, because lately all we have been doing
is walking. We hadn't really planned our day after the seeing the Arch, so we
just started to head towards the Louvre. We then saw some cool buildings and
turned to check them out. They turned out to be the Grand Palais and Petit
Palais. Which I believe is where the fashion shows are held during Paris's
fashion week. We then continued back across the river to see the Musee de
L'armee. Which looked like it had once been surrounded by a moat! Which is
pretty cool.

We still didn't have a real game plan but we knew that we wanted to head back
towards our hostel. So we just continued walking. Meredith's mom recommended
that we go to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, which is a cemetery with all above
ground graves. So we made our way there. We actually walked in one giant
circle trying to find it, but eventually we did. We were both exhausted at this
point because we had been walking for over 2 hours since leaving the Arch. And
as morbid as it sounds, the cemetery was actually really pretty. The graves are
so detailed and old... it was definitely interesting. With our feet killing us
we decided to take a 10 minute break and sit down on a bench. We scrounged up
enough motivation and headed back to the hostel.

We still have been wanting to get into the catacombs and when we walked past
them they were actually open! Except that the last admission was at 4pm and it
was now 4:02pm :( Turns out our 10 minute break in the cemetery caused us to
miss the catacombs. But they are so close to our hostel that we will just keep
trying.

We stopped by the grocery store again on our way back. I got an apple, banana,
avocado and bottle of wine. And Meredith got a banana, cheese dip, crackers and
strawberries. Our feet and legs were exhausted by the time we got back so we
just laid down immediately and chowed down. The cheese dip and crackers (which
were more like wheat garlic bread) was delicious! Lately we had been living of
peanut butter sandwiches and croissants so it was a nice mix up! We watched
some more Pushing Daisies and dosed off into a food coma.

And woke up 2 hours later ... which worked out perfectly because we had planned
to go see the Eiffel Tower light show tonight. So we woke up and got ready. I
tried to get on the hostel's internet to send my blogs to my parents, but once
again it was not working :( I am really hopping our next hostels have better
internet, because this is becoming such a hassle!

Meredith and I then packed up our wine and get on the metro back to Trocedero
where we figured would be the best place to sit and watch. We thought it would
be getting dark around 9:30, so we left the hostel around 8:30 because we wanted
to pick up some pastries to go with our wine. The pastry place closest to our
hostel was closing and didn't have a lot of fresh stuff left, although Meredith
used a little of her french skills to communicate with the woman! :) So we
figured we would just head to Trocedero and look for a pasty store around
there... because they are honestly on every street corner!

The metro takes about 30 mins to get to Trocedero with all the stops, but we got
there. All of the pasty stores were closed in that area as well so instead we
opted for a grocery store. They had a package of 4 chocolate croissants for 1.6
Euro (compared to 2.2 Euro EACH at a pastry store) so we picked up those along
with some Eclairs and headed to the outlook.

It was still pretty light out and packed with people by the time we sat down at
Trocedero. But we had food and wine to pass the time. It was so pretty. However
a big attacked me. Haha I always have the worst luck with this. The pastries
were sitting next to me, so the bird tried to land on me to eat them :( I
screamed, which caused everyone to look and laugh ....

Shortly after the tower lite up in lights and the photo shoot began! I probably
have (realistically) 200 pictures of the Eiffel Tower. And then the light show
began where it twinkles in white lights. It was so pretty. The light show is
every hour and we stayed through the second one (which ended around 11pm) ... We
then hopped back on the metro and headed back to the hostel. Now exhausted we
are going to sleep!

Tomorrow we are going to sleep in a little, get breakfast around 8am, try the
catacombs again and then head to Versailles to the gardens where Marie
Antoinette raised her children. Which should be gorgeous!
opefully the internet will start working on my blackberry too, because lately it
hasn't been connecting at all :(
-brooke.