Day 2 - The day of elevation.

"Okay Dad... I think you got it." The words from Christian's mouth as I filled an 8 gig memory card with pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Don't worry honey, I wont print them all.

You can never have too many shots of great monuments. Well... maybe you can. Anyway, it was a monumental day for the Patrick boys. It started with a 6 am wake-up call from the local garbage men. (I guess this isn't the first time this will happen. Get use to it, huh?) Christian actually didn't get out of bed until 8:45 am, and this was only after threats of cold water and wedgies from Dad. After a couple of chocolate croissants and couple cups of coffee (Christian had apple juice, not coffee) we were off to scale the Parisian masterpiece... Le Tour Eiffel. As we approached the tower the shutters of our cameras start clicking non-stop (maybe this is why my camera malfunctioned later in the day???). We could not have asked for a better day to spend outside admiring this architectural wonder. We proceeded to the que (line) of entry, which took a good 30 minutes of waiting to get through, took two lifts (elevators) and "POP" we were on top. Christian didn't have any words to describe his feels this morning. I think he was shocked to see how high we were off the ground. I have to say I was pretty set-a-back myself. Glad to see the iron bars all the way around. After another 536 shots from every angle we decided to go down a level to see the... why is there an alarm going off? Oh great! We have to evacuate the Eiffel Tower.

We never were told why we had to evacuate, we were just glad there wasn't a panic. And it seems what ever the problem was it was resolved rather quickly. People were still in the que to take the ride up. Scratchin our heads on that one????

After all that excitement Christian decided he wanted to go for a walk along the Seine river, which was conveniently right across the street from the Eiffel Tower. I like the way this guy travels. The Seine river runs all the way through Paris and has gobs of bridges to cross. (We just crossed one.) We loved to look at the architecture along the banks, very old buildings that have been kept in beautiful condition. The French don't believe in knocking down buildings when they get old, they believe in preservation. Okay Mrs. Nickell's class, can anyone tell us what the word "preservation" means? Cooper?

Next we walked to the Arc De Triomphe (Arch of Triumph), had a little lunch in the best bakery in Paris for 2006 (Really. Leave it to Christian to find this place.), and then went for a climb. Do your legs hurt yet? Mine do. Who knows how many steps we went up this time, all we can say is that it was a dizzying experience. See the picture of the stairs and you'll see what I am talking about. Once again, another spectacular view from above the cityscape. Did you know that over 10 million people live in the city of Paris? Christian... hold my hand tight and don't let go. I may not find you if we get separated. =:0 It's an ocean of buildings for as far as you can see.

After a descent back to terra firma we decided that anymore climbing or walking was going to make our legs fall off. Not to mention the jet lag was really kicking in. So we hopped the Metro and back to the flat for a 4 o'clock snooze. ( I snoozed, Christian read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"). He has read 171 pages in the last 24 hours. I might have to investigate these books myself.

Tonight we went to dinner down by the Notre-Dame. Christian was about ready to fall asleep in his club sandwich. A few more pics of the cities lights and it was time to say good night. Tomorrow we are suppose to get rain and sleet so we will be looking for an indoor adventure. Tune in later to see what we found. :)

Once again, Christian's pictures.