Coucou! Everyone recovered from schoolies?

Well today was Eiffel Tower day (ou la jour de la Tour Eiffel). We woke up to a beautiful pale blue sky and decided that this was the fateful day, to climb the Eiffel Tower. We walked there along the Seine, marvelling at all the gorgeous buildings and autumn leaves, we saw the Eiffel Tower by stages - first just the point, then the top bit, then half... We were almost there when we were stopped by French police who had blocked a road - I nearly walked into an oncoming car but was saved by a policeman (hehe). So we had to go around the long way. We walked through a garden with a lake and numerous Autumn trees and there it was! It was very exciting, and I had to take millions of touristy photos.

There was a massive half hour queue to take the lift up and no queue at all to walk up - all those lazy people. We opted to take the stairs and it turned out to be easier than I expected. We started climbing stopping now and then to breath and take photo until we reached the first level (where we sent a postcard to my Nana) - then we continued onto the second level which had the best view. The sky was a bit hazy at the edges but still very blue and clear for the most part. We pointed out various landmarks like the Sacre Coeur, the Louvre, Place de la Concorde... And took more photos, and more photos. I was asked to take a photo of some spanish people - this always happens to me, I think I must look very non-camera stealing. We caught the elevator to the top level and did some more gazing and photo taking. It was so strange seeing all of Paris laid out before me - like a dream, all those itineries we had to do for French projects finally coming true.

After climbing down again me, Emma and Laura walked down the Champ de Mars to try to fit the whole Eiffel Tower in our photo. Then we caught a bus along the Champs Elysees to the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera house - where the Phantom of the Opera lived). We had a late lunch at Galeries Lafayettes (the main department store - like a nicer version of Myers) because it was the only affordable place around. Then we went inside the Opera house - so cool! It's so rich and elaborate - we couldn't go very far in because the tours were almost finished - so we will go back again another day. We then caught the metro back to Pont Neuf and walked back to our apartment ( photo on the left: this is the street our apartment is on) saying Bonsoir to the guy in the dodgy tourist shop.

P.S. Do you remember the Parrot umberella in Mary Poppins - the one the talks to her? Well today I saw one, it was so cute, in the window of a (very expensive) French umberella shop. Ohh, and there is a Dada exhibition on at the Centre Pompidou, I will have to go!

Currently Reading: Still Madame Bovary - I'm really enjoying it, it's very good.