Monday 27 June 2005
Up very early this morning for our trek across Paris to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped for coffee and croissant before catching the rush hour metro to the far end of the city. We joined the queue and half an hour later we were in the elevator up to the second level of the Tower. From there it was all the way to the top for a magnificent view of the Paris smog and city.
On the very top deck of the Tower is where Tom proposed to Katie, so while we were up there another American proposed to his girlfriend. I was taking a photo of Chaucey at the time so it should come out with some guy in the background on one knee. I'm happy to report that the proposal was accepted. Around the outside of the top level are signs advising the direction of cities from around the world. Wellington is between Copenhagen and Stockholm, a mere 19,000km awy from the tower.
It was into the lifts - looking through the window at the ground below gives you a good idea of how high up you are - down to the second level. The view from the second level is a much nicer vista of the city. The gift shop and cafeteria are very overpriced so I gave them a miss despite some of the gifts being very attractive. Then it was back down to ground level.
it was off to the Louvre next. We joined the queue to get in, which was only held up by the scan of the bags. Once we were past security it was no problen getting in. All the english language brouchures had gone so we grabbed a french one and entered the musuem.
The first exhibit we saw was the greek marble statues. Most of them are worthy of being as famous as the Venus de Milo. We then made our way through the musuem looking at all the art we could. When we got to the Mona Lisa, it was surrounded by hundreds of tourists taking photos. I joined the queue, elbowed my way to the front and admired the most famous painting in the world with hundreds of camera flashes. When I moved away I kept my eyes on the painting and got the famous smile.
After the Louvre we had lunch and caught the Metro to Lafayettes and Au Printemps Department stores. Imagine a store the size of Kirkcaldies dedicated only to Menswear - that is the size of Lafayettes Menswear section. The selection of clothes is amazing and I was sorely tempted by the items until I picked up the price tags. Even the sale prices are astronomical!
The same building also has a grocery store the size of an ordinary supermarket with only gourmet food. Across the road is seven stories of womenswear, and across another road is four floors of home decor. It is Paris sale season so the department store was packed with people.
If you walk 50 metres down the road is Au Printemps, Lafayettes great rival store. Printemps is almost an exact duplicate of Lafayettes, complete with the sale and thousands of people. I thought Lafayettes was better, but Chaucey thought that Printemps was superior.
After all the shopping and touristing we had enough of the day so headed back to the hotel.
On the very top deck of the Tower is where Tom proposed to Katie, so while we were up there another American proposed to his girlfriend. I was taking a photo of Chaucey at the time so it should come out with some guy in the background on one knee. I'm happy to report that the proposal was accepted. Around the outside of the top level are signs advising the direction of cities from around the world. Wellington is between Copenhagen and Stockholm, a mere 19,000km awy from the tower.
It was into the lifts - looking through the window at the ground below gives you a good idea of how high up you are - down to the second level. The view from the second level is a much nicer vista of the city. The gift shop and cafeteria are very overpriced so I gave them a miss despite some of the gifts being very attractive. Then it was back down to ground level.
it was off to the Louvre next. We joined the queue to get in, which was only held up by the scan of the bags. Once we were past security it was no problen getting in. All the english language brouchures had gone so we grabbed a french one and entered the musuem.
The first exhibit we saw was the greek marble statues. Most of them are worthy of being as famous as the Venus de Milo. We then made our way through the musuem looking at all the art we could. When we got to the Mona Lisa, it was surrounded by hundreds of tourists taking photos. I joined the queue, elbowed my way to the front and admired the most famous painting in the world with hundreds of camera flashes. When I moved away I kept my eyes on the painting and got the famous smile.
After the Louvre we had lunch and caught the Metro to Lafayettes and Au Printemps Department stores. Imagine a store the size of Kirkcaldies dedicated only to Menswear - that is the size of Lafayettes Menswear section. The selection of clothes is amazing and I was sorely tempted by the items until I picked up the price tags. Even the sale prices are astronomical!
The same building also has a grocery store the size of an ordinary supermarket with only gourmet food. Across the road is seven stories of womenswear, and across another road is four floors of home decor. It is Paris sale season so the department store was packed with people.
If you walk 50 metres down the road is Au Printemps, Lafayettes great rival store. Printemps is almost an exact duplicate of Lafayettes, complete with the sale and thousands of people. I thought Lafayettes was better, but Chaucey thought that Printemps was superior.
After all the shopping and touristing we had enough of the day so headed back to the hotel.
posted by Michael at
7:40 PM
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