Travel

France was amazing!

Notre Dame

The streets of Paris

Paris in three days…is virtually impossible. We started from the Little Rock airport at 10AM and arrived in Paris at 9AM the following morning. Time changes and turbulent flights led to NO sleep. Once in Paris we hit the streets running. Notre Dame and the Museam de’Orsay were stops along the way. Seeing works of arts by Monet, Rembrandt, Toulouse-Lattrece and many more was a bucket list checker for sure. 30 plus hours and more than 6 miles logged in steps we were quickly draining any energy that the excitement might have produced. I believe that we could have been given a cardboard box to sleep in and would have slept just as well.

Rejuvenated and refreshed we met for a European breakfast of espresso and croissants. Boarded the bus and began a city tour of Paris. So much history and interesting stories to be seen and heard. After many years of traveling I can finally say that I have seen the Eiffel Tower, and will go up in it later. Morning bus tour along the Seine and of Ile de la Cite’, where we saw the Notre Dame Catherdal and passed the Arc de Triomphe, We traveled down the Champs-Elysses to the Place de la Concorde, dedicated to King Louis XV. We visited the site where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed during the French Revelotion.

I’ve seen hundreds of photos of the Eiffel Tower, in fact it is such an iconic symbol of Paris, that it is recognised world wide. But seeing it in person is awe inspiring. The shear massiveness of it is overwhelming. With the recent terrorist attacks the lights of the tower were representative of the Belgium flag. Security was heightened and the general atmosphere was security minded.

There are three levels of the tower. Ground, second and summit. Going up was pretty easy and fast. Once at the top the wind was powerful and pretty cold but there were so many people up there that movement was limited and slow. Step by step we made our way around the top seeing Paris in all directions and snapping photos along the way. Little did we know that the line to descend the tower was wrapped around the top three times and wound zigzagging forever. It took approximately 5-10 minutes to make it to the top but it took 45 minutes to get back down. Strange facts about the tower is that it was built in 1886 as a temporary structure for the World’s Fair. There is an apartment on the top floor. And several kings and queens from around the world were among the first visitors.