Andrew writes:
It all started off innocently enough with Amanda wanting to go out for beers. Our bike tour guide had given us a list of good places to go, and so we chose one of them – La Academie du Biere. We hopped on some Velibs and rode halfway across town.
The French enjoy wine and cheese – the Canadians? Beer!
The Academie du Biere had dozens and dozens of beer to choose from, although none from Canada. We dined on bread, cheese and beer. It was nice, except the waitress was very French (bitchy).
When we were looking at how to get back to the hotel, we saw that we were actually pretty close to the Eiffel Tower. We hopped on some bikes and rode over. It’s very nice riding through the streets of Paris, and even on the busier roads I always feel safe. Bonus: we have been riding helmet less for the last 2 days, Amanda is even riding in dresses and heels!
Riding through Paris also has the benefit of allowing us to see all of the different neighborhoods. Each one has a slightly different feel to it. Around every corner is a building that looks old and important, although more often than not they are just old.
We rounded a corner and were face to face with the Eiffel tower.
Things got very touristy, very quickly. The lineup for the ticket office had hundreds, maybe a thousand people in it. It looped and swirled itself all over the large plaza under the tower. We asked someone near the front how long they had been waiting – two hours. We knew that you could also reserve online ahead of time, so we went and asked someone how long they had been waiting – only 30 minutes, oh and by the way, we have 2 extra tickets would you like to join us?
No knives or pepper spray allowed. WTF!?!
Riding up with Mara and Andrea (Andrew)
This lovely Italian couple was fantastic to talk to as we walked through the line for another 30 minutes. They are from Florence, and said it is lovely to visit. Again, we were impressed at the good English of people from other European countries.
Then before we knew it, we were at the top! Well, not the top-top (called the sommet), but we got there eventually.
Standing on the 2eme floor.
Taking the lift to the top!
View from the top.
Looking AT the top.
Amanda was super stoked to be here.
Amanda standing in front of the Eiffel Tower.
We took about 2 hours to ride home afterwards, stopping to see some other landmarks, and choosing new places to visit tomorrow.
Cleopatras Needle, 3,000 years old.
Statue of Jeanne D’Arc
Metro (subway) station entrance.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad