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Another grey and rainy day in Paris but we were determined to conquer la tour Eiffel today! And so we did. We didn't get as early a start as we had wanted but we did make it to the tower around 9:30. The line was worse than a Disney line (maybe not *worse* but comparable). 90 minutes or so later, we had our tickets and were finally in the ascenseur going up one of the legs of Eiffel Tower.
This is my dad's favorite building in the world. He talks about it all the time and insists on reading every single word on every single sign, even though he probably already knows all of the information. The history and engineering of the structure is really interesting and remarkable, especially considering when it was built (finished in 1889), but I think we were more interested in the view of Paris than in the building itself. :)
A good part of our day was spent at the tower - in line, going up, taking pictures, reading signs, climbing doooooooown, and taking more pictures from the Champs de mars with gobs of other tourists. By the time we had come down from the top, the blue skies had beat out of the drizzles and it had warmed up considerably just in time for the final, quintessential Eiffel Tower photo session. :)
After we filled our cameras with pix of this amazing engineering feat, we attempted to solve a predicament we'd been facing since our arrival. Natasha came, for various reasons, with a 500 euro bill that she needed to get exchanged for smaller bills. The exchange bureau at the airport wouldn't do it. The exchange bureau in the 6th wouldn't do it. The two banks we tried on Friday wouldn't do it. And our friend Michael explained that very few places would exchange the bill for smaller ones because apparently the 500 euro bill is often counterfeited so people just prefer not to handle it. We had been advised by the Banque Postale to go to the Banque de France, of which only ONE branch in the WHOLE city would do this exchange. It was nearish the Eiffel Tower, so we go there and send my dad in to handle the exchange. Fifteen minutes later, he comes out UNSUCCESSFUL. They would only do it if he had his passport as ID!! He demanded to know why and caused such a ruckus that the manager had to come to deal with him. They explained that its the law, that only people who live in Paris with a French ID card could exchange it without a passport. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?
Frustrated, we decided it was time for lunch and since my dad was craving muscles, we went to a Léon de Bruxelles and had a lovely meal. We finished around 4:30 and split up -- they went to see the inside of Notre Dame and I went to a couple bookstores in search of a few specific items but being someone who loses complete track of time in bookstores, I ended up finding many other things I wanted and had to decide what was worth the weight in the suitcase on the trip home. :)
Winn and I had a quiet dinner at a nearby brasserie while the "kids" slept and now I'm watching TLC-style French shows, trying to give my aching legs and feet a break before our last day in this amazing city. :)
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