Paris Day 3 - Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees

11/2/2012

Mom and Dad went to the Eiffel Tower this morning. We plotted out how to use the RER/Metro system for them. Upon successfully arriving at the Champs de Mars/Tour Eiffel metro stop, Dad turned to Mom and said gleefully, “We graduated!” As in, they got there on their own! J

There are three different price points for experiencing the Eiffel Tower: going up via stairs, going via elevator to the 2^nd level, and going all the way to the top. We encouraged them to go up to the very top (14 euros). I mean, it's not every day you're in Paris...

But when we met up with them around noon, we found out that they didn’t go up at all! ;( The line was crazy long and hadn’t budged an inch since they first arrived. They took one look at the line and said “screw it.”

The line wound all the way around!

Instead, they went across the bridge to take pictures at the platform. They really enjoyed their time this morning—just taking their time, wandering around the Eiffel Tower (without us hurrying them along), so it was a good morning for all of us.

The Eiffel Tower has free bathrooms on ground level.

The Seine

Mom and Dad wanted to take the Seine river cruise, but since we agreed to meet up around noon, they were afraid they would be late so they didn't go ;( Well, at least it gives you something to look forward to... next time!

High speed chase? Haha

As we sat down to eat our lunch (Angel and I bought hot croques and croissant jambons near Rue Cler and practically ran to the Eiffel Tower so they would still be hot), Mom commented again that the line hadn’t move at all. Seriously. The whole two hours they were there. The tower can only handle so many people at a time. If they reach capacity, they won’t let anybody up until people come back down. But if it were me, and I waited two hours to go up, I’d spend three hours up there out of spite.

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Croissant

France is on a weeklong school break. It seems like the whole of France decided to take a vacation to Paris this week. It’s damn crowded; I reminiscence of the Paris we experienced last time, where there were not that many tourists at all. Not only are there international tourists to wrestle with this time, there are soooo many French families on vacation. The Champs Elysees was ten times as busy as XiMenDing on a Saturday night. The wide block is usually big enough for lots of people to walk, but it seemed like it was people piling on top of people today.

While the parents were going to the Eiffel Tower, we went along Saint Germain, with the intention of winding up at the tower around noon to meet them. We went to Le Grande Epicerie, where Angel really liked their almond croissant. It’s not soggy. It’s flaky and very almondy… plus a bit truffle-y, thanks to the four bottles of truffle salt we bought that the cashier put in the same bag! We bought the truffle salt last time and it was soooo good so we bought four bottles this time. You could smell it in Angel’s purse and we could taste it in the croissant… that’s how powerful it permeates! We went to the free bathroom at Le Bon Marche on the 3^rd floor before leaving.

Arc de Triomphe

We walked to the Arc de Triomphe and took some pictures before Dad said he wanted to go back to the apartment. Paris this time of year is pretty damn cold (although not as cold as Munich!) and it was raining heavily on and off the whole day today.

The Eternal Flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Dad doesn’t do too well in cold, wet weather, so I gave him a metro ticket so he could head back. Upon getting to the rental, he discovered the front gate closed. We only had one key to the front gate, which Angel was carrying, and the access code wasn’t working, so he waited outside for half an hour before someone came by to go in. When he went in, he called the owner, and it turns out the access code she gave us was wrong. She wrote “A” when she meant “B.” When I returned, Dad said I wrote it down wrong and I said, “No!” I was positive I wrote it down right, and we discovered the owner messed up. :T

Originally, we had planned for the parents to go to Fontainebleu tomorrow, but Dad said he didn’t want to go anymore in this weather. Instead, he will be going to the Invalides (to see the War museum)… via metro to and back. While we walked triple that length today alone. As I said, he doesn’t do well in cold, wet weather. Or hot weather.

We took Mom to our favorite bakery for croissant amandes, Aux Armes de Niel, where we bought out their  entire supply. Their croissant jambon was damn awesome too! Much better than Collet’s, and I already thought Collet was good!

Maybe you need another good look at the deliciousness of this croissant jambon. The best ever! Lip-smacking goooooood!

Aux Armes' croissant amandes

We still remembered the bakery near Aux Armes that sold soggy croissant amandes for cheap (I love soggy) but while they still had the deal going on, you have to buy 2 in order to get the sale price and they only had one left. I asked for the discount price but she wouldn’t give it to me. :T Eh, well. You’re in France, be like the French… customers are nearly always wrong, and be grateful that the cashier is willing to serve you at all.

Champs Elysees

We walked down the Champs Elysees where Angel rushed into the Public Drugstore, into the waaay back corner where there is a small Pierre Herme outpost. I didn’t even know there was one, and was wondering why she was rushing so fast. Should’ve figured! She bought a boite of 7, and was so happy that they gave us a bag and wrapped it up nice. Ah, the little things J

It was raining pretty bad and Angel is usually very concerned with maintaining her pretty food in perfect condition, so she put the Herme bag into one of our reusable shopping bags so it wouldn’t get wet. She wouldn’t let any of us touch the bag (the last time I held one of them, she complained I wasn’t holding it nice). The Herme paper bag punctured our reusable shopping bag! Angel said it’s a sign of Pierre Herme’s quality… I said it’s more like he’s a prick. Literally.

You know, Angel, if I made a macaron like this, you'd scold me for being sloppy!

As we walked down the Champs Elysees, low and behold. Marks & Spencer opened up ON Champs Elysees! It was crazy packed with people and the prices weren't all that marked up either. Maybe a dollar more, but hey, they have shipping costs to consider too.

Say whaaaaat?! The Brit Invasion!

We went into LeNotre. The shop has diminished in size greatly and sold nothing of note. Their macarons are more expensive than Pierre’s, but there’s absolutely no filling in them! Yuck! I asked to use their bathroom and the lady was pretty bitchy. I was ready to spent $60 at their store (more on that later) but from that attitude, screw them! We walked by Laduree where there was a crazy long line snaking out the door. *sigh* Need to look up their school holidays for next time!

Laduree was packed as well, with the line spilling out the doors. Sigh. We really came at the wrong time of year. Remind me next time to go on a week where the French aren't on vacation (a virtual impossibility, it would seem).

The famous Laduree

Place de la Concorde is in front of the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre. This is where the angry revolutionaries guillotined the aristocrats in the French Revolution, and where Marie Antoinette met her untimely death.

Place de la Concorde

We went to the Monoprix on Ave de l’Opera, where we bought Cote d’Or the first night. After being in Paris a couple of days, and going into every grocery shop, we’ve come to the conclusion that this Monoprix has the best prices. Not only do they have the best prices for single bars, but they have even better prices for two-packs. However, when we went today, the display cases were all gone and most were sold out ;( So we cleared the rest of the shelves… wasn’t very happy that we had to pay the more expensive price (although still cheaper than the rest of the grocery stores) until I realized after purchasing, that the cashier didn’t charge for two of the bars. Yay!

The Louvre at twilight