Paris Day Three

James birthday called for a big day. So we left our apartment at 7.30am and headed off via the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. An impressive structure built in the 1880's, it was a great experience just to be standing under it. After waiting an hour in the queue we realized we were in the wrong queue and raced over to the other queue for those silly enough to climb the Eiffel Tower by stairs. We made it to the 2nd level then took the escalator to the top. I'm not sure if I was feeling dizzy or it actually was moving, but it was a wonderful and weird experience being up that high. My initial reaction was to throw myself on the floor sobbing with fear. I'm not good with heights.
Afterwards we took a cruise down The Seine, stopping off at Notre Dame, then headed off to the The Louvre to buy tickets for our visit the next day. If that wasn't fun enough we boarded the boat again and headed for the Champs Élysées for a walk up the avenue reaching the Arc de Triomphe. Of course we had to climb that too, so 284 steps later we had a birds eye view of crazy Parisians driving around the Arc. A few close calls were witnessed including people on bicycles, 3 wheeled vans, buses, trucks, taxis. Footsore and exhausted we stopped at a restaurant for James' birthday dinner. Jessie ordered her long awaited escargots but gagged at the first one. So lucky James finished them off. Dragging ourselves home via the crowded Metro we collapsed into bed ready for another day in Paris.