We all slept in this morning until about 9 o’clock. We were pooped from our all-day trip yesterday and not getting to bed until after midnight. Our plan for today was to go to the La Tower Eiffel and the Pere la chase cemetery.
After we got up Guy and Eric ran to the grocery store and Boulangerie and brought some stuff back for breakfast. Unfortunately, we did not get out the door and headed on our way for the day until around 11 o’clock. Since we had decided to go to Giverny (Monet’s garden and house) tomorrow, the first items on our agenda were to get train tickets and the admission tickets to Monet’s garden in advance.
So we went to the Tabac shop near our apartment to buy a carnet of metro tickets (10 tickets). Then we found the metro (subway) entrance in our neighborhood and headed across town to the train station. Once we got to the train station we got in line to get our tickets to Giverny.
After getting our train tickets we headed outside in search of the FNAC store (department store) to buy the advance tickets to Monet’s garden and house so when we get there tomorrow morning we won’t have to wait in line.
After we got all our tickets straightened out for tomorrow we decided to walk to the Eiffel tower. It was at least a three or four mile walk across the city from where we were, but the weather was beautiful and we got to see a lot of the city that way.
By the time we finally reached La Tower Eiffel it was around 2 o’clock so we found a café one block away from the and had a nice lunch with a wonderful view of the tower. After lunch we found our way to the base of the tower and got in line to take the stairs up. The line was not too long. It is a much shorter line to take the stairs than it is to take the elevator (and cheaper). You can take the stairs to the first and second level. If you go all the way to the second level by stairs it is 720 steps.
Jody and I were worried about doing that many stairs, but it was not as hard as I thought. I actually completed the 720 stairs in 10 minutes. The weather today was perfect and the air was very clear. Jody and Guy decided they wanted to take the elevator the rest of the way to the top. I was okay with just enjoying the view from the second level, so Eric and I hung out while Guy and Jody waited in the really long line to go up to the top. While Eric and I were waiting we enjoyed some ice cream and strawberry gelato.
We gave my cell phone to Jody so we could stay in contact and we could pick a place to meet up. We hung out on the first level and met up with them as they came down. By the time we made our way to the bottom it was around 7:30 p.m. We thought maybe we could take a river Taxi down the Seine river to get back to our apartment, but it was really expensive, so we decided to just come back on the Metro.
We finally made it back to our apartment around 8:30 p.m. and picked up a few things at the grocery and boulangerie and had a snack when we got back to the apartment.
As it type this it is 9:45 p.m. and we need to get to bed so we can get up early tomorrow. We need to be to the train station by 8 a..m. for our 8:20 train trip to Vernon.
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