Ending things with a 'bang" at the Eiffel Tower

Well, if you haven't gotten it yet.  Drama and excitement finds us.  So, this is the story about our visit to the Eiffel Tower when we 'almost' got blown up!  You know, you always have to make it sound worse then it really happened (the fish was <------------------> BIG).  What is the fun of telling it like it really happened?

So, I saved the Eiffel Tower for our last night in Paris.  We woke up Sunday and it was cool but still a bit sunny.  We started by heading out of our hotel and found the local market.  We wandered down around and found a lovely little lady selling pastries.  My second son was sent to order  4 Pain au Chocolates, he had trouble remembering the French word 4.  Luckily the little lady that he ordered from was very gracious and lovely.  She told him what the number was and then handed him 4 other little pastries, perhaps for his efforts.  It was really cute and she was tickled that he tried.  

I had heard from my husband's aunt to try the roasted chickens with lovely potatoes that were cooked in the drippings.  I had not thought that we were going to be able to eat one as our schedule seemed to keep us out late.  While we were at the market we found a vender that was roasting lots and lots of chickens with the lovely potatoes.  It was close to lunch time.  After smelling the lovely smell and seeing the line at the vender and hearing the recommendation, we decided that we found lunch!  We grabbed a chicken and potatoes and took it back to our hotel for a feast!  Sorry, no pictures the boys literally stripped it to the bone!

We then headed into Paris.  Since it was the first Sunday of the month we could get into the museums for free!  We headed to L'orangerie.  Our visit did not go with out incident.  It was here for the first time I was asked to surrender my backpack.  In other museums I was able to wear it on my front or carry it like a bag.  Not here!  I totally balked though, as I was carrying it around because it had our passports, train tickets, etc.  The girl that I was talking to told me in 'that was not her problem' in her French accent and I found it quite rude!  If her co-worker had not been trying to hand me a bag to put my things in I would have told her off!  Instead I told her in a very sarcastic tone, 'wonderful'.  It was then that the two girls carried on a conversation in French that basically meant they always get the rude one.  Gee, thanks, I am the rude one?  Yes, I really want to leave my passports in a bag that they were forcing me to check now!  It turned out that I had been shopping earlier and I did have a little shopping bag to put the passports and tickets in, I transferred things over and we were on out way.  Guess what I saw minutes after we left the desk?  A woman with her backpack facing forward.  SERIOUSLY?!?!?!  I was peeved, but I was also determined not to let it run my visit!

 L'organerie is a small museum, but they have Monet's big paintings of the Lily Pads.  They are beautiful!   Would I go back again?  Certainly.  Did I complain about the rude behavior of the staff and then seeing the backpack, absolutely.  I sent them an email when I got home.  I very pointedly said that perhaps the staff member was not trying to be rude when she told me that 'it was not her problem' but those words are not very polite ones to say to an American/Brit.  

While we were there it started to rain.  We decided to head back to the Louvre as my youngest two had started to collect the museum coins.  They wanted one from the Louvre.  We did not find them, instead we found wooden swords made in France!  One had the flur-de-lis in blue for France and the other had one in red for the UK.  They also had the coolest shields as well.  Initially I told them no because I did not want to carry it around with me for the rest of the day.  We then headed to find a restroom.  While I was in line, my youngest was so mad about me saying no about the sword that he punched my second oldest son in the stomach, repeatedly.  It sounds awful, I know, but my youngest has such a temper that we all kind of laugh at him when he goes off.  Not the best thing to do I admit.  Even worse?  I caved and bought my youngest two the swords (after a proper apology was issued).  The best thing?  My youngest carried the swords around Paris for the rest of the day with no complaints, he was even cheerful about it!  

The rain seemed to have let up and after some down time getting Starbucks and some sweets, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. 

Here we are walking up to the tower.  It was lightly raining.  We got to the base and checked out the line.  It was a longer line then I had hoped for.  As we were standing there the police and security forces started to arrive.  They closed of 1/3 of the base all the way to the river and the bridge.  My oldest son started to get a little freaked out.  I told him to relax, that we were in France and they have an excellent police force and army.  

So, while that was all happening, I decided that it might be a good time to heard back to the hotel and change into warmer clothing.  It was going to be a chilly evening.  So, the base and everything was still closed off and we started to head toward the nearest metro station.  We crossed the road and it was then that we discovered that the bridge was closed as well.  We paused to wait for a few minutes and then we heard a small explosion.  So, we figured that they found a package or abandoned bag and took it to a secure place and blew it up.  

Here is a picture of the Army guys.

We finally crossed the bridge.  Note that my youngest is holding the swords.  I did not hear one compliant!

So, we changed our clothes and made it back to the tower.  We were stood in line for a ridiculous amount of time.  I tried to book online, but they had sold the allotment of online tickets already.  So, we were stuck in line waiting at the base.  My oldest only wanted to go up to the first level, but as it turned out, trips were only to the second level and the summit.  So, he ended up waiting for us at the bottom.

I am on the second level looking up as it sparkled.  Every time it sparkled, there was a collective gasp.  

Here are the 4 of us at the top.  We were at the top at midnight and we saw it sparkle again before it shut down.  It was chilly but such a beautiful way to see the city!

After we finally descended the tower we headed off to the metro station and found ourselves with two problems.  The first was our three day passes had expired while we were at the summit of the tower.  The second was that trains were not running anymore!  So, we left and started walking.  We needed to find a taxi.  The kids were all tired and I knew that I had a potentially bad situation on my hands.  So, sounded as positive as I could and we started walking to find a taxi.  Finally after almost an hour we found one.  She got us to our hotel and I gave her every single Euro that I had left and I was still short....  

We always have an adventure!