Day 5: Do-overs , Musee D’Orsay, and Shopping

At this point in our trip we are definitely sleep deprived, you can tell by the slight slow down in our pace. Nonetheless, we wanted an Eiffel Tower do-over, so we woke up early and made our way to Trocedero.

Walking up the stairs we were greeted by a sight so gorgeous that we paused in our steps. There was the Eiffel Tower bathed in the light from the rising sun, a mixture of colors too beautiful to describe. The fact that it took us a little while longer than normal to take our cameras out spoke to the fact that we were spell bound. I think the early morning sight of the Eiffel Tower really will engrained in my mind along with the other singleton memories that strike at something deep in your soul, the same part of you that draws you to this magical city.

Once we managed to get our legs working we walked down to the Eiffel Tower and got in line. The line was not yet long but as we waited till the tower opened, the line started to spiral inwards like a snail shell. We both decided it was not the most practical method of lining up, but we were not in charge. We got some hot coffee in line and I got a pain au chocolat. Once the tower opened, the line felt like it was zooming forwards, and we were past security, past the ticket booths and in the elevator going up again…this time to the top. The second elevator always freaks me out, because you can see yourself going up without as many steel beams around you. But in the name of the Eiffel Tower I made it!

Once we got to the very top, we were immediately frozen solid. It was cold to an extreme and windy to boot! We snapped a few pictures but it was ridiculously cold, so we went back down to level two for some more pictures. We got really cool photos of the Eiffel Tower’s shadow on Trocedero Square. Then we climbed the stairs down to level one, not wanting to risk not being able to get off the elevator. Downstairs we were greeted by a major disappointment…it seems that the post office is closed permanently. So our idea of getting the special stamp at the Eiffel Tower post office was ruined. We cheered up with some more coffee at the café, before taking the stairs down to the ground.

We walked around Champ de Mars taking more pictures than we would probably need in a lifetime. Katie was enamored with the Eiffel Tower, so she had us do a photo montage of self portraits. It was quite amusing. We also found a really neat try and took pictures with the tree. All these pictures may have something to do with finding out the limits of our memory cards were a lot higher than anticipated. We walked down to the Peace Monument, where we noticed one of the panes of the glass was shattered but held together since it was a special type of glass. It had been wrapped with caution tape, but before our eyes the pane slid out and broke into tiny pieces. It seemed like an ominous sign for peace in the world. Without dwelling on it to much we headed to the Metro and then towards Orsay.

We were a little hungry at this point so we stopped to get banana Nutella crepes, but this stand made them with chocolat and not Nutella. Not quite the same but we were temporarily satisfied. The line for Orsay was short and we were soon in. We first went to the Picasso Manet exhibit, which to me was a dreadful bore. I learned last year that Picasso was not to my liking for the most part and this was not an exception. It was intriguing that he painted the same scene so many ways, but it did not appeal to me or Katie, so we scratched the Picasso museum off our list. We wandered the exhibits after that, my favorite being Monet and Renoir. I did enjoy some of the modern impressionists as well. After having been to the Opera Garnier the model of it was more intriguing as we enjoyed seeing what was behind the scenes. At this point Katie was faltering so she sat down while I explored further. By the time I finished with the Mask exhibit, Katie had fallen asleep!

I work her up and we decided to do a little shopping. So off to the Gallerie Lafayette. Katie needed to purchase some perfume and I wanted to find a table cloth for my mom. The store is really beautiful in itself, right down to the windows decorated for the holidays. We looked at several windows before exploring the interior. We found the perfume quickly, and then headed to the Gourmet store where we bought some chocolates and small gifts for my brother, Chef Paul. We then exited the main store and went to the home store, where we heard on the announcements that something was going on outside. While looking at table cloths we saw a demonstration/ march going on outside, with riot police ready on hand. I did find a beautiful table cloth and paid a pretty penny, but it was for my mom, and very much worth it!

At that point we were beat so we made our way out and then back home. We stopped at a crepe stand and got a croque monsieur for Katie and ham and cheese crepe for me again. We also stopped for Gelato at Amorino’s, which Katie loved! We arrived at the apartment and decided to take a nap before going to the Arc for a night viewing. Feeling better after our nap and food, we left again to see the Arc and this time make it to the top. We approached a short time before the registers closed but got out tickets. The gentleman at the entrance to the stairs told us if we liked we could use the elevator at the other side. Our poor feet were ecstatic, so the elevator it was! We got to the top for an extraordinary night view of the Champs Elysees. The red, whit e, and blue lights looked beautiful from up top. And the Eiffel Tower sparkled for us. It was a breathtaking scene and we took many pictures from all sorts of angles. Soon the Arc was closing up, so we left to walk down the spiral stairs.

We were still hungry when we got home, but most places near us were no longer serving food. We did find a Monop so stopped in their for some bread, ham, chips, and cookies. I also bought some coffee, vanilla sugar, and tea for back home. We made a little midnight feast back at the apartment, before promptly falling asleep from exhaustion!