Day 10 - Paris

We woke with a sense of excitement to be going up the Eiffel Tower today, but that was tempered when we opened the blinds to discover a very overcast day, looking like it was going to rain at any minute. Not too discouraged we still made a reasonably early start for the Thomas’s, and decided to give the kids a treat after all the walking they did yesterday without complaint.  They’re still asking for ice cream or treats every hour or so, but Kristie and I are so impressed with their attitude to all the walking, churches and museums that we would of found boring at their age.

The treat for the kids was a visit to the kids interactive science museum - Cite des Sciences, in Paris’s largest park - Parc de la Villette.  The park is a cultural centre, kids playground and a very modern urban landscape all rolled into one.  We arrived just after one of the timed entries into the kids aged 5 - 12 area had begun, so we spend the first hour walking around a small fraction of the park, on the museum side of the Canal Ourcq.  Apparently you can cruise all the way up from central Paris on the Canal St Martin - through locks and swing bridges to get to the park.  This is a definite must when we next visit Paris.  Outside the museum itself is a massive mirror finished ball called La Geode.  It is a 360 degree “omnimax” theatre, - usually surrounded by water, making for some great reflection, but not today - particularly with the lack of sun.  In fact it seems like all the fountains around the building had been drained for possible maintenance, like many of Paris's tourist attractions now that summer is over.  The real life submarine in the park was also closed - which I'm sure the kids would have loved to see.

Our 1145 session in the kids museum, was all but empty - except for another father and son.  The kids had such a great time, as everything was interactive and they could use anything they wanted for as long as they wanted.  The La Cite Des Enfants 5-12 has 6 themed sections to it.  Body, Communication, TV studio, Water Games, and Factory.  They got to program a machine that made paper cutouts that they could then fold into boxes/packaging  They designed labels for their box and printed them.  They got to control a simple TV studio - switching between cameras.  They played water games.  They got to change their appearance by taking a photo then changing their hair etc.  They played the game they saw on Survivor - where as a pair each with a rope they have to manoeuvre a ball up a wall around holes - without letting the ball drop into any hole.  All this and quite a bit more.   Kristie and I thought the kids museum was really dated, but the kids loved it so it was a success.

Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower, so back onto the Metro and this time combined with an RER train - the other train system servicing both central Paris and the suburbs.  When we arrived, the place was very different from both of our previous visits.  No more can you freely stroll around under the tower across a sandy plaza, with clear views of gardens and monuments in each direction.  Instead, we were greeted by a construction zone comprising walls - both temporary and permanent, security screens and army personnel carrying multiple weapons.  In fact there has been army and a strong police presence at almost all Paris landmark tourist attractions.  Together with superficial bag searches and metal detectors, there is a real sense of concern for public safety.  Its so sad, because as Kristie said, it really took away from the charm and romanticism of the Eiffel Tower - more than any other attraction.  To their credit though, they have created little lakes and gardens on either side of the tower to soften all the security fencing around the entire tower base.

While we were waiting in line for the lift - firstly to the 2nd floor, it started to rain.  Still, when we got to out of the double story lift, the rain had stopped.  Despite being overcast, we still had fairly good views of most of Paris - just maybe not the postcard photos that we had hoped for.  After a bit of argy-bargy with the crowds we circumnavigated the 2nd floor and joined a rather long queue for the summit.  It was probably a 20-30min wait and then we got to the top - 276m above the ground.  The only thing above us was the antenna of the tower.  More photos of the same views, although I did notice that Paris looked flatter the higher you got.  Sacre Coeur from the summit does not look like it sits high about Paris.

After a few more snaps, we caught the lift back to 2nd floor, where we decided to walk down the stairs instead of using the lift, so that we could access the first floor which the lift didn’t stop at on the way up.  There was quite a few information boards around the floor on the history of the tower, but with everyone tiring we moved on pretty quickly.

Back on the ground, our next stop was the Jardin du Trocadero, where most iconic photos of the Eiffel Tower are taken.  However, that wasn’t going to happen for us either.  The Trocadero fountains were drained of water and two cranes were being used to build a scaffold and timber structure right over the top of these beautiful gardens.  Whatever the event they were going to put on, they were going to a massive effort for it.  It was no small construction.

With more walking, and a few final hours of seeing Paris sites being dinner and bed, we kept the kids happy again with more ice cream.  Guarantees a smile every time.  Ice creams in hand, we walked down Avenue Kleber to the Arc de Triomphe at Place de I’Etoile.  By the time we arrived it was getting late in the day and because we wanted another view of Paris by daylight, we decided to head straight up.  When we arrived there was some ceremony happening at the base of the monument, possibly to do with the tomb of the unknown solider at the base, but this did not stop us from ascending the Arc de Triomphe to see the sunset over Paris.  

At the top (another 284 stairs), we snapped some photos before twilight and then we had an hour to wait for sunset.  The kids occupied themselves dancing, while Kristie and I rested our weary feet.  I really wanted to wait till after sunset to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up.  We managed to last until after 8:00pm, but I couldn’t ask everyone to wait another hour for the Eiffel Tower to glow like a diamond - which it does on the hour every hour for 15 minutes after sunset.  You can see some of the 20,000 light bulbs used to make it sparking in the upward looking photo of the Eiffel Tower above.  It was still beautiful to see the regular lights come on, before we headed down for some dinner on the Champs Elysees.

It didn’t take us long to realise that unless we ate fast food, we were not going to easily find something the kids would eat at a reasonable price.  And by reasonable, I mean under 150 Euro for the family.  So we boarded our last Metro train and headed back to the convenience of our local square - Place Edmond Michelet to order some pizza and pasta to take back to the room.  By the time we sat down it would have been after 10:00-10:30pm yet again.  Another long (last) day in Paris.