Paris Day 2

Even though we meant to wake up early and getting going with our day, we did not. The eight hour time zone difference is hard. But, we got up eventually and left the house. We might have had breakfast, I don't remember.

Today we started out with the Catacombs! When we arrived we found friends! In Paris! My friend, Amy's, sister Lisa and her family were in Paris for the week too and, amazingly, we found each other. And they were going to the Catacombs too. They were even kind enough to let us cut in line, probably saving us a good hour of waiting. It was great to see them and Hazel loved to play with the baby. It was one of her highlights of the trip.

Moving on. Flora the Ninja wanted a picture with the bones, she was very brave, but a little nervous.

Hazel also touched a skull. A shiny one.
Skulls arranged in the shape of a heart. There are a lot of bones in this place. Six million people's bones. Walking down into it was a little creepy but you quickly become immune to it and don't think of them as people. Or bones.
Geoff picked up a skull. This was presumably allowed as the guards did nothing to stop people from playing with bones. I think it is a little icky, however.
After the Catacombs we went to lunch. Hazel ate at McDo (I am ashamed) and Geoff and I ate some delicious galettes, shared somewhat with the Hazel. Then we rode the Metro. The Metro is awesome. Hazel loved the folding seats and pushing the button to open the door. Honestly, I think the Metro was probably her favorite thing in Paris. She loved every part of it.
Oh, playgrounds might be her favorite thing. We stopped at a lot of them. The cool thing about Paris playgrounds is that they are each made for the park. Each one was unique and had slightly different equipment. They were all uniformly sandy, however, the French don't do a lot of grass.
Next stop: Eiffel Tour!

Geoff and I did not climb this when we went a couple of years ago. The lines were crazy long, even to do the stairs, like four-five hours long and we didn't think it was worth it. But, I was determined to go to the top this time.

Happy family shot with the new tripod. (used a lot on this trip)
We did the stairs to the second level (the level right above Hazel's head in the above picture and then rode the elevator to the top). On the first level we stopped to take pictures.

And then we continued on to the second. It was 668 steps. We didn't have to count because luckily someone did it for us. Hazel did not love the stairs. She was nervous to even take this picture. It was windy and the stairs are fairly exposed. But, she was brave and we made it.
We then had to wait in a huge line to ride the elevator to the tippy-top. More pictures were taken.
Hooray for the tripod!
Flora wanted to look out the telescope.
Geoff took a lot of pictures from the top but they are all scenery shots and that is not what I am about. I can barely post pics of my kid, I cannot post all his artsy/scenic shots.

Okay, I will post just this one. But it is a family shot.
After surviving Eiffel, Hazel was rewarded with a ride on a carousel.
She loved it.
I was a little slow on photobombing my emo child.
Flora wanted the same picture as Hazel. No photobomb.

I love the Eiffel Tower.

Especially when it sparkles at night. Holy cow, I love this so much I would fly back to Paris just to watch it sparkle. I will rent an apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower and watch it sparkle every hour (on the hour, for five minutes). Photos do not do it justice. If you have not seen this in real life, you should go. I will go with you.

We tried to take family pictures but the focus was off. I think they all kind of look like we are standing in front of a backdrop, not the actual tower.
And then it was late and we rode the Metro home.

What will tomorrow bring? Stay tuned and find out. It was awesome, trust me.