Souvenir shopping and the Eiffel Tower

So after not sleeping well at all I decide I must get up when 9:00 am comes round- after all I'm in Paris!

I have a 3:00 tour of the Eiffel Tower- all the way to the summit. I have some time to kill so I am going to get some of my souvenir shopping out of the way. I really have no idea what I'm looking for though.

Near to my hostel is a street leading up to Sacre Coeur that is littered with shops selling the same stuff at the same price. I think I mentioned this before..... Anyway, the shops are fairly good (compared with the other souvenir shops I've seen) and so I find what I'm looking for and load up.

Something else Paris does really well is farmers markets, even just the grocery stores have their fruit displayed so nice- I had to take a picture.

Finally, my Eiffel Tour comes around and I leave an hour early to be in time for it- somehow I managed to be almost late! The area where I was to meet my tour was not the most conveniently located. But I do find it and go in to see if I missed the tour and if they can get me in for another one. But I'm just in time!

I get my ticket and find my group: the majority are loud, crass, cigarette smoking Americans. You know the kind, they
are ......American. Anyway, I try to ignore the fact that they are so ignorant and silly and move on with the tour. The tour guide, a nice American girl named Cherry, walks us to the base of the tower, gives us a 2 minutes schpeal on the tower, then walks us to the security check and then promptly leaves us. We are left on our own to follow the 2 elevators up to the summit. The first set go diagonally following the 4 base pillars, then at the second floor you take a new elevator straight up. The line ups are irritating, but manageable.

All the way up we are crowded like sardines in elevators. Hold your bag close we are constantly warned about pickpockets. But it turns out fine. I reach the summit and can see all of Paris, and tourists. I think I mentioned before Paris from above is really houses upon houses. But its still nice to see and I'm glad I did it. It really is the kind of thing you only do once in Paris.

(Note: Who brings a crying baby to the top of the Eiffel Tower? At least 2 stupid people that I counted.)

Come down (slowly and crammed) and I had to leave because the tourists were just getting too much for me. Oddly the one thing that made me feel better was seeing several armed to the hilt Parisian military men. Why better? Men in uniform, perhaps, men with guns- definitely. Some strange reason I felt they too were irritated with all the tourists but they managed to refrain from gunning them down even though they had the means to- this gave me strength to refrain as well. :)

I move away from the base to the front park so sit a bit and reflect on this massive monument. Its these moments I really like- to sit in one spot and watch the world go by realizing where I am. I did it in New York and its one of my best memories.

But I dont linger as I see the Hop on Hop off bus coming near and I know I need to get on otherwise I'll never see this city. On I go.....