Greetings,
Day two of our museum tour was great! We finally started seeing more crowds as we worked our way through more of the touristy sites including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. The weather has also improved a bit, as it appears to be above freezing consistently throughout the day. Although the 40mph winds at the top of the Eiffel Tower didnt help the much.
We started the day by tackling the Eiffel Tower. There were lines about 500-700 feet long, but we were able to make it through the lines in about 45 minutes. There were 2 elevators required to get to the very top. The first elevator takes you up one of the legs of the
tower at a 45 degree angle. These elevators are two stories high, and hold quite a few people. They are a little strange though as they tilt ever so slightly as you go up the leg of the tower, presumably because the track you're going up is not completely straight. Once we reached 2nd level, we were in another shorter line to get to the top via one of 4 elevators that run vertically up the top section of the tower.
The views at the top were amazing. There is an indoor section where the elevator takes you, and another floor above that is outdoor and very cold and windy. We were able to get another great view of the city from all directions.
After the Eiffel Tower, we briefly stopped at the Tracadero, which is adjacent to the Eif
fel Tower, and a great place to take pictures. It was here where Dave took pictures of these Germans who insisted on kissing each other as we took the pictures of them in front of the eiffel tower.
From the Tracadero, we moved along to the Louvre. We were amazed by the scale of the Louve, and the amount of people that were there. After finding the entrance for our museum pass (allowing us to avoid the line to get in), we explored the SULLY wing of the Louve which included some great Greek Sculpture and some Egyptian art. This was the main focus of our visit as we wanted to focus on a single wing. However, we also found time to see the Mona Lisa (no pictures were allowed here).
After the Louvre, we moved on to the Notre Dame. This was a site as well towering above the crowds of people below. There was a single Christmas Tree below the church, and scores of tourists taking pictures fr
om every angle in the plaza in front of the structure. We went into the church, and much like Sacre Couer, were diverted along a loop of the church from the side entrance around the back of the altar and back toward the front. The interior was amazing including the immense height and rose windows. Unlike Sacre Coeur, we were able to take pictures here, but it was pretty dark inside and most of them are hard to see.Our final stop of the day took us to the Pantheon, which I remembered studying in my architecure
class. Its modeled after the Roman version and contains a number of famous people buried in the crypte of the church. We were unaware that there was an installation by Ernesto Neto in the Pantheon, which provided an interesting dichotomus view of interior. The installation was comprised of panyhose material filled with tiny styrofoam balls.After the Pantheon we hit McDonalds so we could get a Value Meal with a Beer. Brian was tempted to ask if Beer was available for the Happy Meal, but we were challenged enough to try to communicate what we wanted. This was a very interesting experience, but the food is pretty much the same as in the US with the exception that you can order a Beer and Diet Coke is called "Coca-Cola Light".
After that we headed back to the hotel and grabbed dinner. We plan on going to the Chateau de Versailles tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have another update for you soon.
Avoir!
Dave and Brian
