Day 68...Eiffel Tower (can't think of original title) - 2nd September

Got up at sparrows fart and climbed 3 flights downstairs, only to discover that you need a token for the shower, and the reception was closed. Huffed back up 3 flights of stairs and tried to catch some more z's. Got up around 8.30-9am instead and had a shower. It was fun having a 7 minute timer, and having to wash your hair with one hand, while pushing the button to get water with the other. not. I felt very travelled though doing it, and didn't mind. It wakes you up, washing quickly! We ducked into the internet cafe and caught up on some stuff (not really, I was only up to hull on the blog that day) before buying some bannanas and yoghurt from a grocer for breaky.

We sat on a park bench to eat it, and got joined by a very cute Parisian cat who was all too happy to sit between us for a cuddle. So we had breakfast with him, then subwayed it to the Arc De Triomphe.

It sure was an arch alright. It is also on the busiest and biggest roundabout in the world. Its got 12 roads all converging in. Nate saw an 'almost crash' but still wants to tackle it on the way out. Its a challenge man! The Arc was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 ( they love building archs dedicated to themselves here in Europe. I must get me one back home) but it was not finished when he started losing battles then wars. It was finally finished in 1856. It was archy and theres not much to do bar look at it and take some photos. (Although Nate wanted to grab a beanbag, then sit and watch the roundabout for crashes). So we trained it to the Eiffel Tower. The funniest thing - on the way out of the subway, the first view we got of the twoer, had a whopping great Aussie flag in front of it! We had disembarked out the front of the Australian embassy. Nate thought it was righteously funny. We went to the bottom of the tower, and it was less busy than we expected (only a 1/2 hour wait than our projected 2-3hr wait). There were less beggars as well. There are some there, mainly muslim girls who have a really irritating way of getting your attention. They ask urgently if you speak english, like they're asking for directions or something. So you turn around, and they thrust a postcard at you with writing begging for money. Its annoying so you tell them to fuck off (well not really, you just shake your head and look disgruntled). I think I've gotten better since the Blarney Stone, I'm sure.

Anyway, it took a while to get to the top of the tower. We felt kinda dizzy on the way up, its hard to believe you're so high! Because the buildings don't go past a few stories throughout Paris, the Eiffel Tower is up on its own, sticking out like the proverbial. You really do tower above all the buildings. On the platforms, the height issue is not so bad, but in the lifts you see a bit more and guage the height better, so it makes you nervous. Once up top - man the view! Paris is huge! It seemed more sprawly and huge to us (well me anyway) than New York. I guess coz its flat and sprawled, not high and sprawled with NY highrises. I felt like a storey character, gazing at all that Paris. It felt like I needed to break into song or something. We saw the Arc De Triomphe again, the Trocadero, the Louvre and the Sacre Cour sitting proudly in the distance. At the top were manequins in a room representing Mr Eiffel which looked pretty funny.
So we admired the view and wandered around, marvelling at where we were and what we were looking at. Normally going out of a venue or attraction is quicker than getting in. But on the tower we were stuck! In between the 3rd and 2nd floors, we gave up waiting and had some lunch, as by then it was 3pm! We'd been up there for hours queueing and whatnot. We then lined up forever and a day to get from the 2nd floor to the ground. Little kids were losing it with the wait and crying and I felt like joining in too. I really felt trapped up there. After a total of 4-5 hours up the tower, we thought we'd seen enough of it. Nathan - much to his displeasure- broke up my boredom as I annoyed him thoroughly. haha. We were so relieved to get to the bottom! Yay!

We then trained to Montparnasse to try and see the catacombs. We were past closing time, so watched a crazy old lady for a while as we regrouped and figured out a new plan. We decided to go to the Grand Boulevards and windowshop. The Grand Boulevards were the cafe and chichi shopping district in Paris heyday but is now mainly Hard Rock Cafe, H&M (again) and crap shops. We weren't impressed and were glad we had enjoyed Montmarte yesterday. The boulevarde was supposed to be mac, but it just had the usual city tourist stuff. We walked till we ached, then got lucky by disappearing down a laneway of shops that haven't changed since the 1800's. It was like a step back in time. The promised antiques and postcards that were supposed to be in there were shit, but there was a chocolaterie in there that was way cute. I bought a tiny piece of chocolate. (I ended up eating it back in the room that night, and it was really gross! Just bland and 2 dimensional so I ended up spitting it in the bin!)

We poppped out the other side of the laneway, and I got enchanted again with another chocolaterie that dated from 1761 so bought some more choccies there. I think I will come home and set up my own chocolaterie like Juliette Binoche in the movie Chocolat.

We sat on a street corner at a cafe and had some drinks while we rested our aching feet. I embarrassed nate by amusing myself trying to take guerrilla shots of people with breadsticks. It ended up being harder than I thought. (Not for lack of subjects - they were everywhere, but the problem lies with being subtle and pointing a lens at them. The french also tend to wave their breadsticks around a lot and use them as pointers in conversation, so it results in a blurry shot.) After our rest, we meandered a bit more then went on a cross country mission to find a restaurant. It ended up being back where we started at the chocolaterie (well the street die - the restaurant was nowhere to be found! Damn Lonely Planet) So we wandered and found anothe rplace that ended up being really chic but inexpensive. It had a great atmosphere and a truly delightful waiter that made us laugh all night. The waiters in France must be trying to make up for their bad rep, as apart from the one on our first day, they are truly lovely. We shared a bottle of wine, then pounded the subways to get home and sweating wine from our brows.

We ended up in bed quite late, and though it was a big day we couldn't sleep.