John:

On the 1st large groups of people are just heading home on buses and taxis at 4:30 AM. I am beginning to suspect Paris may not be an early morning city.

November is showing it's true colors today -- gray and rainy. It's been showering on and off and by night time the streets are a shiny film of water. Everything is clear after the rain, and the lights rippling across the water remind me of growing up in New England. It's a peaceful time when I close down at 7:30 PM and call work done for the day.

In the morning Wini and I got ourselves to iconic Paris and rode the Eiffel Tower to the top. Despite being my second visit here, I had never been to the top. There are some great views there, though the guidebook says the views from the Montparnasse tower are better. We'll have to see as time goes on.

Both breakfast and lunch were crepes, and dinner was a croque monsieur at one of the restaurants below the apartment. So far either the other person speaks enough English or my pathetic few phrases in French are enough to get across what we want when getting around.

Tomorrow is the first visit to the Louvre when it opens at 9 AM. I'm going to suggest we start with the Raphael visit, being shown in conjunction with the Prado, and get to the rest of the Louvre on other days. The problem with the fact that I am telecommuting is that my workday starts around noon, so I have to be back to the apartment by then. But now we know how to navigate around the Metro and RER, and get to the main spots, so we can make the most use of the free time. Wini has afternoons mostly free so she can shop while I work, but I hear her taking on a contract of her own even as I type this up …

wini:
Woke up and went to Starbucks, when nothing really opens at 7am. It was fun to eat the tiny Starbucks pancakes for 3 euro. The cappuccino was way too much milk.

Afterward, we went to metro, transfer from line 10 to line C, exit A, and head to the Eiffel Tower. The whole trip took us 4 hours, it was too windy so when we were at the top I was having fun running passed a wind tunnel on the west side of the Tower. Did not stay long at the top floor. The lift to the 2nd floor went in an angle. It was making John's joke about elevator should go sideway, in tangent from a myth to reality. Originally I planned to record a video about me on top of the tower, didn't happen because the chilly wind. Instead I film the experience of the crowded lift.

When we got down, it was so crowded and grateful we went there at 9:30am. The line is running toward to the other side of the street (where the merry-go-around is) when we left!