A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED About This Page:

[cubfancolleen]

Originally Posted by chezp

I had no idea, but decided I'd ask my all-knowing friend Google and, sure enough, it had the answer: http://www.theparisblog.com/the-goat-moat/

Fascinating and good to know they're there for a reason....

So I was right about the goats!

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures of the gardens!!

[Cam22]

The gardens are beautiful. Loving all the photos from Paris.

[chezp]

Sunday 17 September – part five: this is not what you usually find at a Disney store

When we were first at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, we’d said to Jan “you’ll be able to see the Arc de Triomphe from here”… except we couldn’t. How weird… I thought perhaps it was some restoration work going on, but it was the stage, and the booming thud, thud, thud of the bass was horrendous the closer you got to it. Ugh.




This is what it was all about… it was essentially a free concern organised by a group called Printemps Solidaire – spring solidarity if my French is right. The website had a list of artists and speakers taking part in it, but honestly, none of them meant anything to me. I’m sure they’re well known if you’re French though….

I was worried about whether we’d be able to get out of the Tuileries here, but fortunately we were able to. Ok, great... or so I thought!

We headed over to the Metro station there. It was closed, and it looked as if it would be for some time, i.e. it wasn’t just for today’s event. I guess they’re doing some serious work here.

Anyway, we had other problems. There were security checks on the entrance to Place de la Concorde. We had no idea if it was a paid for or free concert. Ok, so it turned out to be free, but how the heck were we supposed to know that at the time? We didn’t, so we headed off down a side road to try and walk around it. Oh boy, it would be a long walk…

Every time I looked at roads heading back down towards the Metro stations, they were still blockaded off. Wow, this is taking up way more space than I figured it would!

There was an upside. We were walking along what was patently the high end shopping street, which was interesting, as I didn’t know it was here…




… then we were into embassy land. We were told to get on the other side of the road, and I wasn’t sure which embassy it was, until Mark pointed out the crown. It was actually our embassy, the British one. Wow. We seemed to have better security than the American embassy next door, which is something I’ve never seen before…




We headed back to the Champs Elysees, and we showed Jan what happens in the roundabouts around here… let’s just say it’s not pretty!



Mark pointed out that the Disney Store was just a little bit further up, so we headed that way. Now this is something that’s never happened to me in all the times we’ve visited Disney Stores, and frankly I hope it doesn’t happen again, as I think it’s a sad indictment of the society we’re living in, because there was a security guard on the door, doing bag searches. There were more inside. In fact, when Jan and I went downstairs, there were two, and probably only about half a dozen people shopping. It almost felt a bit intimidating, even though I’m sure it was designed to reassure people…










They had these hidden Mickeys embedded on the floor downstairs!



[

Anyway, they at least had a good Paris range, which was a pleasant change from years gone by…

We didn’t buy anything, and headed out and into the Metro station outside. As you can see, this is one of the newer and nicer ones…




Next: making our way up the Eiffel Tower

[cubfancolleen]

Much better selection at the Paris Disney store than what we found in Barcelona.
Kind of nightmare getting where you wanted to be with that concert. Good you know your way around Paris!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Much better selection at the Paris Disney store than what we found in Barcelona.

Oh that's a shame they didn't have much.

Kind of nightmare getting where you wanted to be with that concert. Good you know your way around Paris!

It's a benefit of having visited one or two times...

[Cam22]

The free concert definitely put a kink in the plans. Cool Disney store, but so sad that security is getting so tight around the world.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

The free concert definitely put a kink in the plans. Cool Disney store, but so sad that security is getting so tight around the world.

It is.

[chezp]

Sunday 17 September – part six: making our way up the Eiffel Tower

We made our way over to Charles de Gaulle Etoile, the station we were originally going to get off at for the Arc de Triomphe, but sadly it had taken so long to walk around the concert, we just didn’t have time now before our tickets would be good at the Eiffel Tower, so we headed straight over that way.




When we got on to the other line, we set off, and ended up stopped at the second stop for ages, and I have no idea why. We were all very relieved when we got going again. We came out of the station, and made our way over to this famous icon…





Despite the fact we’ve seen it many, many times over the years, it still gives me a sense of awe and wonder every time I see it. What a visionary Gustave Eiffel was to come up with this. Originally built to impress visitors to the Universal Exhibition in 1889, it was only supposed to be a temporary addition to the Paris skyline. Despite the fact that many people hated it when it was first erected, somehow it ended up being permanent.

It’s over 1,000 feet high, and it never sways more than three inches, although we met a woman later in the queue to get to the top who would argue that! We’ve certainly felt it move at the top before, but she claimed it was moving further down than that. I couldn’t feel it though.

We made our way through one security check via the pre-booked tickets, which was a bit of a joke, as those without tickets seemed to be getting through the check faster than we did…

We were then inside what I can only describe as the “safe area” underneath the tower. It’s all basically inside the security checks, but for good measure, you then had to go through a second security check, which really was taking things a bit far. I appreciate Paris has been the victim of a number of terrorist attacks, and I am not playing that down in any way, shape or form, but for goodness sake, just do one decent security check, and be done with it.

We headed inside, and only had a couple of minutes to wait before our lift was coming down to us…






The Eiffel Tower has a total of 1,665 steps to climb to the top, which my grandmother did when she was a student at the Sorbonne University. She did have some method to her madness though. In those days, you didn’t pay if you took the stairs. Mind you, we are talking prior to the Second World War – she was one of the first female students ever at the Sorbonne. Very impressive. Anyway, thankfully they have double decker lifts to take you to the second tier, and then another set to take you to the top.

We piled into the car…




… and made our way up the tower to the second floor…











Next: how long is this line?

[purplegal]

What an interesting story about your grandmother, love the views so far.

[cubfancolleen]

Are you even allowed to take the stairs these days? Impressive of your grandmother!

[disney_duke]

Well that concert really messed things up. But you make the best of it because what else can you do! I really wish we had time to get to the Disney store! Should be on the top of our list when visiting a new city, but... Paris has a few other things to see too!

Yes, the double security checks were weird. The second one seemed more thorough though, not sure why they bothered with the first! Our lunch was on the first floor and we didn't go any further so it'll be nice to see your pictures from further up!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Are you even allowed to take the stairs these days?

I had to double check on the website, but you can still get a ticket to take the stairs - not something I'd want to do but I guess some people do.

Impressive of your grandmother!

I couldn't believe it the day she told us that story. I guess it's sometimes hard to think of your grandmother as a young person doing that sort of thing...

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Well that concert really messed things up. But you make the best of it because what else can you do!

Well exactly!

I really wish we had time to get to the Disney store! Should be on the top of our list when visiting a new city, but... Paris has a few other things to see too!

There is that...

Yes, the double security checks were weird. The second one seemed more thorough though, not sure why they bothered with the first!

Oh wow, you had lunch there? Something we've never done. I was just looking at the website to see if you could go up via the stairs and admiring the restaurants (the photo of macarons helped! ) and thinking maybe one day we'll have to do that...

Our lunch was on the first floor and we didn't go any further so it'll be nice to see your pictures from further up!

I have one or two to share....

[Cam22]

Love the backstory about your grandmother who sounds like an interesting lady! With that many stairs, I'd always opt for the lift!