June 19, 2017. Monday. Paris. It’s been great to re-visit so many sites with kids. Somehow they just see things differently. Like today when, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, while the rest of us were taking in the view of the city, Elliot heard the cry of a peregrine falcon, and soon we were all watching and thinking differently of the Eiffel Tower as a bird nesting space. Or the way that the miles of cute cobblestone streets–which are fun to walk on–are totally a nightmare for the kids on their scooters. Or the way the kids wanted to lounge around on the fake grass and have a smoothie and a pretzel on the 1st level of the Eiffel Tower — something Jo and I did not do in 1999!
Today was a climbing day, in addition to a lot of walking: the equivalent of 71 floors worth of stairs and and 9.4 miles of walking. The kids are troopers (although thank goodness for the scooters we brought over!). The Eiffel Tower gave us most of our stairs: 700 up and 700 down (just to the second level). But the Arc de Triomphe added an additional ~280 or so up and another 280 down. All good, although we may feel it tomorrow!
It was fun to be back at the Eiffel Tower, touristy as it is. We of course opted for the staircase up to the second level and then took the elevator to the very top. It was a perfect blue sky day again, so picking out our favorite landmarks was no problem.
Back on the ground, it was time for some perspective picture attempts — alway trying to nail the perfect shot (but mostly failing). A quick lunch to go from a cafe and it was off to Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried. We admired the huge open courtyard and the golden dome, but decided not to go in.
A short metro ride later, and we were greeted with the towering Arc de Triomphe at the northwest end of the Champs-Élysées — the famous wide and tree lined shopping street. I (Lin) had never been up the Arc, so I took the kids (Jo had to stay with the scooters anyway — they are very strict about where exactly they can go here). It was hot, hot, hot on top, but the views were neat.
Although we didn’t know it at the time, half an hour before we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe there was an attack further down the Champs-Élysées, in which someone rammed his car into a police car with the intent to blow it up. There was an explosion and fire, but only the driver died. They closed down the tube station there, so we had to find an alternate route home on the metro. A little freaky, especially on the heels of the attack in Finsbury Park in London just last night (not too far from our flat there), and the attack several weeks ago in London in the same space Jo and the kids had been the day before. Still, you have to live your life. We’ll be at a lot of high-volume tourist places all around Europe this summer, but there’s really nothing you can do if you want to see these places. Fear cannot win.
Much love to you all.
(Note: you can click on the pictures for larger versions.)
Fisher Family Travels 