Today is devoted to the Eiffel Tower.
We checked out of the hotel, left our bags to their care, and marched over to the Paris icon. What we found was stunning. I thought Sunday morning (ok, late morning, but morning) would not be too horribly crowded. Oh, how very very wrong I was. The lines stretched from the base of each pillar all the way under the width of the tower and snaked around on themselves. Easily a three hour wait.
I didn’t care. We were going up in that stupid tower today.
I put the others into a line and went off in search of food that can be eaten while standing and waiting.
Across the street next to a carousel there’s a food stand. Normally, I wouldn’t be caught dead eating at such a place. Today, it was perfect. I ordered four crepes (two with eggs), some fries and a bottle of water. Then I called Patrick to send over an extra pair of hands. Julie arrived and we juggled the hot food. It was really pretty good. Made to order.
While waiting in the line, the reader board at the ticket office announced the top level was closed. No rain. No wind. It must have been too full of people. We figured it would re-open by the time we reached the ticket window. It reopened by the time we reached the little security check point (which is about 45 minutes from the ticket window)
Overall, my estimate for the line was about right. It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to the elevator that would begin our journey to the top. We didn’t dilly-dally on the middle platform, but got right into the next line for the rest of the trip up. I am still not a fan of that ride. I’d like to say I won’t do it again, but I’m sure I will. Especially if Kaitlyn wants to go.
The clouds rolled in about the time we got to the top level. The view was still great. It was kind of neat making the trip up after seeing Paris on the ground because we walked around pointing out all the places we’d been. We have crammed a lot into these past few days.
The line to go back down to the ground was nearly as long as the line to get up. But we made it with enough time to stop and get ice cream (I got soup) near the hotel. We also had time to check one last time for my camera. Still lost.
The Paris metro stations are not built with travelers in mind. Getting big, heavy pieces of luggage up and down the stairs was something of a feat. But we managed. And once we got onto the train to get to Grenoble everyone’s mood lightened. Turns out none of us are very calm or easy-going travelers.
We turned some heads on the train with all of our laughing. I’d brought a deck of cards and we played hearts. As if the game isn’t hard enough, the cards were French and it was hard to remember that the 1 is really an ace which is high not low… the R is a king… etc.
In the parking deck at the train station in Grenoble, I nearly had a break down. It was bad enough having lost my camera. Now, I’d lost my car. I swear I walked up one flight of stairs leaving the garage, but my car was no where to be found on that level. After calling Bill in a complete panic, I went down one more flight of stairs and walked right to where I’d parked. It was hard to miss… I was right by a wall that I got too close to pulling in and scraped up the front bumper of my car. This has been the long weekend of mishaps.