Paris, France – We saved the best for last in Paris. At least that’s what the twin-agers thought.
I’m glad the Eiffel Tower lived up to the hype because it was not easy to get tickets. The on-line ticketing system was in disarray due to the Olympics this summer. Which was lucky for us. Because normally you have to book Eiffel Tower tickets 60 days in advance, which we did not do. But they were switching over to a new ticketing system for Olympic summer, so there was no advance booking for dates starting in mid-June; and it was not clear when the tickets for these dates were going on sale. So there I was, setting my alarm for 6pm everyday (midnight, Paris time), waiting for tickets to become available for our days. And finally they did! And today was the day – our last day in Paris!
If you don’t book in advance, you can always walk up the stairs to the midway point of the Eiffel Tower. Which also has magnificent views of the city, and it would have been totally fine.
But we went all the way to the top (in the elevator, much to everyone’s relief). And actually, it’s a good thing. Because this was V’s bucket list item (or baguette list, as I am calling it): eating a croissant at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Unfortunately, we didn’t plan ahead and then at the last minute we could not find a croissant. But we could find an éclair. A French pastry is a French pastry, and an éclair beats a croissant any day à mon avis. He checked it off.
Pastries aside, both twin-agers were pretty delighted with the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Despite the ticketing snafus, jam-packed elevators and inescapable photobombers, this is a Paris icon. Gotta do it.
