Eiffel Tower Summit
After staying out late the night before we had a small sleep-in (not by much) before heading out for our 10am booking for the summit of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately we took another RER line which terminated one stop down at D’Orsay. We asked a guard how to get to the Eiffel Tower, and he told us basically to walk. Annoyed we left the station and consulted Google Maps for directions – and it also said to walk. So we headed off at a brisk pace to try to cover the 2.6km in 25 minutes.
We finally arrived and went through the usual security theatre, and arrived on time for our scheduled ascent. Have a booked time was definitely worth it, as even though the tower had just opened the line for those without tickets was already very long.
The elevator takes you to the second level, where you then climb some stairs and join another queue for the elevator to the top. This moved surprisingly quickly. Soon we were at the top for a great view of Paris.
We skipped the champagne – after our long hike, the heat, lack of breakfast and extortionate price they were charging it would have been a bad idea.
After taking the elevator back down to the second level we wandered around briefly, then descended via the steps within the infrastructure. I’ve visited the Eiffel Tower quite a few times before but I’ve never been down the steps, and it was definitely worthwhile having a different perspective of the engineering.
We walked up Champ de Mars to get a great view of (and our photos with) the Eiffel Tower.
Napolean’s Tomb
It was then a short walk to Musée de l’Armée to see Napolean’s Tomb. Although the Paris Museum Pass let me and Mina in no problems we were forced to get Jess a free ticket in a short but slow moving line. I can’t say I’m Napolean’s biggest fan, so I was in two minds about the size and grandeur of his tomb.
Statues surround the box staring at it. It reminded me of the Doctor Who episode “Blink”.
Rodin Museum
A short distance away is the Rodin Museum. I liked a few of his pieces, though I think I prefer the marbles of antiquity or the Renaissance. I especially liked a few of the smaller busts.
Musée d’Orsay
By now we were quite hungry, so we stopped off for a quick drink and bite to eat before heading to the Musée d’Orsay a short distance away. We headed straight for the level that contains the impressionists which was up at the highest level. Of course the escalators were out of order, but by this stage stairs were nothing to us. We were well rewarded.
Jess bought this picture as a souvenir.
I bought these two as a souvenir.
Next we went down a level or two to the Van Goghs. There were quite a few really great works of art in between.
Finally we got to the Van Gogh section.
I thought it was the best of the art museums we visited in Paris. In fact this is probably my favorite art museum in the world.
It was now late afternoon so we walked back to the Latin Quarter along the Seine where we bought a few souvenirs along the way. For dinner we went to the very touristy area around where we were staying and had the most touristy cliched meal you could get.
Next: Journey Home
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