Paris - Day 4

Oh, our last day in Paris. We fly tomorrow back the states. We decided to get up early and catch a quick breakfast at Mc Dees before heading out. I was seriously looking forward to a sausage biscuit and those hockey pucks they call hash browns. We get there super early so as not to miss it (like we did the day before) and when I try to order the sausage biscuit, she tells me 'sorry, only breakfast items.' I am a bit confused so I try to order the hash browns and she says the same thing. The only thing they have on their breakfast menu is a bacon, cheese, egg biscuit and pancakes. Two small pancakes... Grrr. What is it with the tiny breakfast here? How can you possibly start a day with only a croissant and coffee?

After Mc Cheese we head to the Louvre to finish what we started on Friday. We have the first floor and second floor remaining. The paintings are housed on these levels, we primarily saw sculptures and other non-painting items before. The main attraction of course is the Mona Lisa. The photo taking rules changed since Alan was last at the Louvre two years ago. You can now take photos in the galleries housing the paintings, but no flash (right...). In the room with the Mona Lisa the regular crowd surrounds it. Everyone is taking photos, even people who only have cell phones. Alan went for the challenge shot of taking a photo of someone taking a cell phone photo of the Mona Lisa, so that you can see both the image on their phone and the real thing at the same time. Who takes a cell phone photo of the Mona Lisa... really?

We see more lovely Egyptian items, more sculptures, Napoleon the III's apartment, and then we reach a point when 'art goes stupid.' I do not claim to know art or even a tiny bit about art but I do know that a soiled mattress, shiny bug bodies, and part of a spine does not art make. Real nice Louvre. Love how you put it in with the Dutch paintings and not in with the French.

The Louvre completed, we headed to a different part of town for a bit of shopping. We headed to brand name lane and find giddy girls, high heals, and even higher price tags. We stopped in at Chanel and after a tiny purchase, we run like mad back to normal land. We found refuge in the hotel and rested a bit after the morning jaunt around the Louvre.

A trip to Paris cannot be complete without a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. We headed out late in the afternoon with fresh cherries, a chunk of Camembert, a fresh baguette, a bottle of champagne, and a strawberry tart for dessert. We find space in the shade and spend the rest of the afternoon shooing pigeons and doing yoga in front of the Eiffel Tower. The park is amazing. There are tons of flowers, trees, and of course a view of a brilliant architectural feat.

The final item on our to do list was to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We decided to take the elevator having climbed so many stairs in so many places in so many cities. The wait in line was short and soon we zoomed up in the first elevator, which is at a slant. You have to change elevators at the second level so as we were in line to go to the top we got a chance to see the views. Even from the second level you can see so much. We get in a huge elevator and are again whisked up, this time to the tip top. We stepped out of the elevator and ran up a short flight of stairs to the open air viewing and saw a breathtaking view of Paris as the sun was about to set. Paris is truly beautiful and the amazing shade of pink cannot be explained, it must be seen. There were a lot of people but we wormed our way to the front to watch the sun set.

It turns out that there is a champagne bar on top of the tower. It also turns out that we happened upon a high school tour group at the top. It didn't take them long to figure out that they were of drinking age and soon some of them were paying quite a premium for a tiny amount. We had a good laugh as we watched them. It wasn't so funny later when we had to follow some of them down the stairs and listen to them try to claim they weren't a bit tipsy.

As we descended, we were lucky enough to be a part of the first round of sparkle lights. Every hour on the hour for about 10 minutes, hundreds of bright lights twinkle randomly up and down the tower while large blue-purple lights shine constantly on the tower making it glow. We could see this from our hotel room at night but it was even cooler to be on the tower, to see the lights up close, and hear the crowds cheer from below. To come from a town where our biggest tourist attraction is a large pit of acid water left over from strip mining, it is definitely humbling to experience something so beautiful.

We ended our final day in Paris at a tiny crepe stand in front of the tower. There was a merry-go-round filled with mostly adults and a couple of guys sketching portraits. I could not decide what crepe to get so I splurged and had two.