Warning! There are a shitload of pictures of the Eiffel Tower in this post...some real, some not. However, rest assured, I only posted 10% of the ones that were taken (at the girls' insistence) and I only took one picture every 10,000 times one of the girls said "look Daddy, the Eiffel towerrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!".
You've been warned....
But first, we had to check out Montmartre. I had fond memories of Montmartre from our last trip, and not because I visited any of the cabaret bars....at least not during the day. The highest hill In Paris with the beautiful Sacré-Cœur church on top (you can see the church from pretty much any viewpoint in Paris) features an eclectic mix of bistros, cafes, cabaret and artists... What could go wrong?
On the little alley leading up to the base of the park area, there were two groups of guys doing the "3 cups and a ball scam". The girls were checking out souvenir shops (Jesus Christ, Robin needs to go in every tourist shop here.... And there are well over 200,000 of them!.... But I digress) so I stood and observed from afar. It's shocking that people fall for this scam. It's really easy to spot who the "fake gamblers" are, and I could also spot the one or two scouts who were looking around for cops. Yet, sure enough, lots of tourists going by stopped to check out the game, and half of them placed bets. Shockingly, 90% lost (they have to let some people win other than the undercover scam artists I guess). That was fun watching though! At one point, one of the groups had a scout come in and signal and they packed the game up in seconds and were gone. I didn't see any cops, and the other group stayed out, so maybe it was a territorial issue.
You can take a little funicular up the hill to the church, but we took our time, going up the curving steps that surround the gardens of the approach. The grounds that lay beneath the church are beautiful. This whole area used to be pretty seedy, but, as with every city you go to these days, expensive real estate prices have driven everything up market. Now, it's a very desirable area to live, as well as a huge tourist attraction.
There was a guy playing accordion near the top - he was playing Pachelbel's Cannon, which drew a tear from Beth as it was apparently our wedding song.
The guy was pretty good, and with the ambiance of the setting, we were happy to sit there and zone out, listening to the tunes.
The church was pretty crowded... Poor Christians - the few hundred people faithfully listening to the priest give his sermon were surrounded by thousands of tourists milling about. You would think they could do the mosque thing and close the place during mass.
Although Sacré-Cœur was built fairly recently (well, from a European way of looking at history - finished in 1914... Bad timing to have just finished installing stained glass!), it is a stunning piece of architecture. It was built mostly using travertine, so the whole places leaches white calcite, which helps it maintain the stunning white colour even after all these years.
The interior is just as amazing - the dome, the beautiful organ, the stained glass and all the little details - fantastic.
We walked outside among the throngs, and headed West to the artist's square.
The Place du Tertre is the central square that is full of artists - from real pros to outright amateurs. The whole feel of the place is pretty eclectic and a lot of fun. The girls watched one guy doing an oil painting of the basillica in earth tones, though when I tried to offer him 100 Euros for a painting he had listed for 120, he gruffly said "Non! Piss of you cheap American".... Well, I may have embellished and added the last five words, but it certainly sounded like that. Maybe that was a good reminder that was saying "dude....we're out of wall space and we can't afford any more framing!".
We sat in a cafe and people watched - what a great place for people watching.
The girls scratched "eat crepes in an outdoor cafe while watching French artists in berets" off their bucket list.
And since it was just about 12, Beth and I scratched "have a glass of wine and/or bottle of beer while watching French artists in Berets" off our list!
We did some of the Rick Steves walk through the area. What a nice, quiet little neighbourhood when you're away from the crowds.
We descended the hill towards our destination station, Pigalle.
I spotted a tag.... Not a genuine Invader, but there are many copies. Robin volunteered to go take "one" picture. I lamented after she promised to take "one"picture. I got distracted and she came back a minute later and handed me the phone "done!". When I checked at the end of the day, here's what I saw on the camera roll....
Pigalle, or "Pig Alley", a nickname anointed by WWII allied soldiers with too much testosterone and per diem, is stocked full of sex shops and nude dance bars. The girls eyes were pretty wide walking by those shops on the way to the metro.
We caught the metro all the way down and under the Seine to the left bank. We cruised West, aiming for the Eiffel Tower, but first, we needed picnic stuff and a Starbucks. I must be getting closer to home... It's Greg again!
The girls were squealing for the last ten minutes of the walk, as they caught glimpses of the Eiffel Tower here and there. Finally, with picnic food in hand, we saw the famous symbol of Paris, and the avatar for teenage girls around the world.
We sat down in the sun under the tower. It was a dream come true for the girls.
Abby insisted on setting up the picnic "properly", so we let her have at it.
With stomachs full, the girls took it all in.
Just before four, it was time to head over to our meeting place for our skip the line tickets.
I guess the skip the line was worth it, although the lines to get in didn't look that long. I think next time.... Nah, I'm not going up again. The tower is best viewed from the ground, or from the river, or from across the river. Two times is plenty.
Beth was a little tired after the picnic wine...hic... So the girls and I...hic.... Took the elevator up to the third level observation deck...hic...
I liked the view down to the square below from the open first deck interior observation area. The tower really occupies a huge piece of land.
As we were ready to leave, the sun was starting to set.
We opted for the stairs down, and I'm glad we did. Every couple of flights down, they had a little story board on other towers and structures. It linked our trip.... Here we were near the end, and we saw a board comparing the Tokyo Tower to the Eiffel Tower....
.... Then the Patronas Towers from KL were featured....
By the time we were down and settled to go, the tower was completely lit up.... It was really stunning to see at dusk.
Paris is an inspirational place. They really believed in the Field of Dreams concept of "if you build it, they will come". So much of the beauty and spectacular function of the city was built in the last hundred and fifty years. Much of it was controversial at the time, and it all took a lot of money to build. I hope Toronto is not beyond continued inspiration.
The girls were so happy with their Eiffel experience - a dream come true.
And I was proud to share their excitement with Beth - this trip has been our dream, and we have experienced more than we thought possible in such a short time.
When we got back to the hotel, I unloaded my bag and was amazed at all the shit junk crap amazing souvenirs the kids picked up today. I don't know how they've done it, but Paris is a marketing machine and they owe it all to the guy who beat out other competing ideas like building a giant guillotine for the world fair.
Imagine if that guy had one the competition? Heads would have rolled.....
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